S- 


Chairs  of  Pedagogics 

By 
Edmund  J.  James 


'v-   ^H 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


PHILADELPHIA 


Social  Science  Association. 


CHAIRS  OF  PEDAGOGICS 

IN    OUR 

UNIVERSITIES. 


A   DISCUSSION 


SCIENCE  SND  SRT  OF  EDUCATION 


UNIVERSITY  DISCIPLINES. 

BT 

EDMUND  J.  JAMES,  Ph.  D., 

Professor   In    thB    tlnlvKrslty    d1    Pennsylvania. 


Published  by  the 

PHILADELPHIA  SOCIAL  SCIENCE  ASSOCIATION, 

y20  Locust  Street,  Philadelphia. 


y 


CONTKNTS. 

Expansion  of  the  College  and  consequent  change  in  the  character  of  its  work. 

Harvard  College  as  an  illustration. 

Accidental  character  of  our  educational  progress  and  consequent  unequal  develop- 
ment of  diflerent  subjects  of  instruction. 

Result,  that  unimportant  subjects  have  received  undue  attention,  while  very  import- 
ant branches  have  been  almost  or  entirely  neglected. 

To  the  latter  class  belongs  the  subject  of  the  Science  and  Art  of  Education. 

This  branch  should  now  be  introduced  into  our  Colleges  and  Universities  for  a 
three-fold  reason : 
(i.)  Specific  office  of  the  University  to  further  the  development  of  science  as 

such  and  consequently  of  the  science  of  education. 
(2.)  Liberalizing  character  of  this  subject. 
(3.)  Practical  advantages  resulting  from  its  cultivation. 

Inefficient  character  of  our  present  teaching. 

No  requirement  at  present  of  any  previous  professional  preparation  for  this  im- 
portant calling. 

No  evidence  of  professional  study  in  the  case  of  actual  teachers. 

Origin  and  cause  of  present  state  of  things. 

Normal  schools  and  their  functions. 

Need  of  professional  training  for  high  school  and  college  work  as  shown  by  charac- 
ter of  educational  problems  involved. 

Possible  methods  of  furnishing  this  training : 

(I.)  Inducements  to  private  individuals  to  furnish  these  facilities. 

(2.)  Postgraduate  seminaries  for  training  of  teachers  for  such  work. 

(3.)  College  and  University  Departments  for  the  Cultivation  of  this  Subject. 

Advantages  of  such  departments : 

(i.)  Would  conduct  the  training  of  teachers  under  the  best  surroundings. 
(2  )  Would  tend  to  make  teaching  a  real  profession. 
(3.)  Would  furnish  facilities  to  all  who  care  to  improve  their  own  work. 
(4.)  Would  afford  opportunities  for  the  few  choice  spirits  who  are  qualified  by 
nature  to  make  contributions  to  the  art  and  science  of  the  subject  to  pre-     < 
pare  themselves  properly  for  the  work.  ^ 

What  courses  should  be  established. 

Certain  objections  answered. 

Facilities  offered  in  Germany,  England,  Scotland  and  the  United  States. 

Summary. 

A.PRKNDIX. 

Note    I.  Literature  of  the  Subject. 

"      II.  Functions  of  the  University. 

"    III,  Normal  Schools  and  Their  Work. 

"    IV.  Argument  for  Training  of  Teachers  in  Regents'  Report. 

"      V.  Post-graduate  Seminaries. 

"     VI.  Proper  Place  for  Training  Teachers. 

"  VII.^  British  Universities  .and, Tjainipg  o/,ye%cher^     ,, 


Ld 


1 

^     Chairs,  of    Pkdaqooics 

f.  .  IN    OUFi 

UNIVERSITIES. 

H^  Among  the  interesting  phenomena  connected  with  Ameri- 

'^  can     education     of    the    last     thirty    years     none   are     more 

^  striking   than   the  expansion  of  the  college  and  the  change  in 

5  the  character  of  its  work.     A  generation  ago  the  college  offered 

"^to  its  students  only  one  prescribed  course  of  study  in  which 

Classics    and    Mathematics    formed     the    chief     constituents. 

These    subjects    were    supplemented    by    a   little   elementary 

^  instruction  in  natural  science  and  a  taste  of  moral  science  and 

*  history.  There  was  no  recognition  of  the  desirability  of  consulting 

S  different  tastes  among  the  students,  or  of  encouraging  devotion 

to  any  branches  of  study  except  those  which  formed  the  staples 

of  the  curriculum.     So  many  hours  each  week  were  devoted  in 

the  Freshman  year  to  Latin,  so  many  to  Greek,  so  many  to 

Mathematics.     The  Sophomore  year  was  a  continuation  of  the 

\  Freshman  year.     In  the  Junior  year  a  little  attention  was  given 

Mo    History,    Physics    and    possibly   Chemistry;    while    in    the 

^  Senior   year    a   few    hours    were  given    to  Political    Economy, 

^  Philosophy,  Ethics  and  Constitutional  Law.     All  the  students 

v.  took  the  same  number  of  hours  in  each  subject. 

The  present  curriculum  is  very  different  from  the  former  in 
all  institutions,  which  have  been  enabled  by  the  possession  of 
pecuniary  resources  to  advance.  The  great  difference  may  be 
made  clear  by  comparing  the  present  curriculum  of  the  institu- 
tion, which  has  carried  through  these  changes  most  consistently 
with  the  one  in  existence  a  generation  ago.  Harvard  College, 
although  not  the  first  to  begin  this  reform,  nor  successful  in  her 
first  attempts  to  introduce  it,  has  by  a  series  of  happy  coinci- 
dences taken  her  place  at  the  very  head  of  the  column  and  stands 
to-day  by  universal  consent  at  the  head  of  American  institutions, 

3 


^ 


397470 


so  far  as  number  of  different  branches  taught  in  its  curriculum 
and  the  number  of  courses  offered  in  each  branch  is  concerned. 

This  will  appear  more  clearly  by  a  brief  comparison  of  one  of 
its  late  announcements  with  the  typical  course.  The  following 
subjects  were  represented  in  the  college*  by  different  courses, 
aggregating  the  number  of  exercises  per  week  indicated  by  the 
figures  following  each  subject : — 

Hebrew,  6  ;  Aramaic,  2  ;  Assyrian,  6  ;  Arabic,  4  ;  Ethiopic, 
2  ;  Sanskrit,  8  ;  Old  Iranian,  2  ;  Greek,  40  ;  Latin,  40  ;  English, 
29  ;  German,  24  ;  French,  26  ;  Italian,  10  ;  Spanish,  12  ; 
Philosophy,  30  ;  Political  Economy,  17;  History,  45  ;  Roman 
Law,  6  ;  Fine  Arts,  17  ;  Music,  13  ;  Mathematics,  38  ;  Physics, 
21  ;  Chemistry,  23  ;  Natural  History,  50;  total,  471. 

The  typical  college  has  something  like  the  following : — 
Greek,  11  ;  Latin,  11  ;  Mathematics,  12  ;  History,  5  ;  Physics, 
4  ;  Natural  History,  2  ;  French,  3  ;  German,  3  ;  Political 
Economy,  3  ;  Political  Science,  Ethics,  &c.,  3  ;  Philosophy  and 
Logic,  3  ;  total,  60.  That  is,  Harvard  College  offers  nearly 
eight  times  as  many  exercises  per  week  in  the  various  branches 
of  human   science  as  the  ordinary  classical  college.* 

Important  as  this  change  in  the  number  of  subjects  of 
instruction  has  been  for  our  college  system,  it  is  no  more 
important  than  another  change  intimately  related  to  it  though 
quite  different  in  character,  and  that  is  the  revolution  in  the 
kind  of  teaching  afforded  in  each  of  the  leading  subjects.  This 
difference  is  much  greater  than  one  would  infer  from  a  mere 
contemplation  of  the  subjects  announced  in  the  catalogues. 
Even  thirty  years  ago,  for  example,  the  subject  of  Political 
Economy  was  included  in  nearly  all  the  college  curricula  of  the 
country.  But  it  was  at  that  time  taught  by  the  president  of  the 
college,  usually  a  clergyman,  whose  time  was  fully  occupied  by 
other  duties,  and  whose  attitude  toward  such  topics  was 
hopelessly  biased  by  the  fact  of  his  theological  education  and 
profession.  To-day  it  is  taught  in  our  better  institutions  by  men 
who  have  made  a  specialty  of  social  and  economic  topics,  and 


*  Of  course,  this  could  not  be  done  satisfactorily  without  an  elective  system  of 
some  sort — either  elective  study,  elective  course,  or  elective  group  system,  nnder 
which  each  student  takes  no  greater  number  of  hours  per  week  than  under  the  old 
plan,  but  has  a  much  wider  range  of  choice  in  the  selection  of  his  subjects. 


whose  whole  time  and  attention  are  devoted  to  this  department 
of  investigation.  More  than  that,  where  thirty  years  ago,  one 
short  course  of  perhaps  forty  to  fifty  exercises  was  considered 
sufficient,  to-day,  no  college  of  any  size  is  satisfied  unless 
it  can,  at  least,  doubfe  or  triple  these  opportunities,  and  several 
of  the  centers  offer  a  number  of  courses,  each  of  which  has 
more  exercises  than  were  formerly  offered  in  the  whole 
curriculum.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  other  subjects,  so 
that  we  can  fairly  say,  that  the  teaching  of  such  subjects  was 
formerly  tutorial  merely,  and  given  by  men  who  were  qualified 
in  that  subject  only  for  a  tutor's  work,  while  to-day  it  is  pro- 
fessional and  given  by  experts  in  the  various  subjects.  This 
difference  is  vast,  and  signifies  a  total  revolution  in  the  spirit  and 
results  of  college  work. 

This  development,  significant  and  far  reaching  as  it  is,  has, 
however,  not  been  symmetrical.  It  has  gone  on  in  an  almost 
accidental  way.  The  subjects  which  have  received  the  most 
careful  attention  have  been  in  many  cases  those  far  removed,  rela- 
tively speaking,  from  the  immediate  demands  of  our  national  life. 
Thus,  the  subject  of  Assyriology,  than  which  it  would  be  difificult 
to  find  one  more  remote  from  all  our  practical  interests,  speak- 
ing in  a  narrow  sense,  has  received  such  an  impetus,  that  an 
American  student  can  now  find  as  good  opportunities  for  its 
study  at  home  as  abroad,  and  very  much  better  advantages  than 
in  most  other  countries.  On  the  other  hand,  the  subject  of 
Political  and  Social  Science  has  received  only  inadequate  recog- 
nition, considering  their  vital  importance  to  our  political  and 
social  development.  The  reason  for  this  is  not  far  to  seek. 
Our  higher  educational  institutions  are,  to  a  large  extent,  in  the 
hands  of  private  parties,  who  are  bound  in  their  management  of 
the  institution  by  many  an  old  provision  of  a  will,  or  by  strong 
corporate  or  individual  interests.  They  are  dependent  for  their 
resources  upon  private  beneficence  for  the  means  of  carrying  on 
their  work  at  all.  Every  individual,  therefore,  who  imagines 
that  he  knows  what  the  educational  interests  of  the  time  demand 
and  who  has  a  sum  of  money  at  his  command,  may  practically 
determine  the  whole  course  of  an  institution  by  giving  the  money, 
on   condition   that  it  be  used  in  a  definite  manner  to  promote  a 


definite  subject  or  subjects.  The  universities  are,  therefore, 
rarely  in  a  position  to  pay  much  attention  to  symmetrical 
development,  with  a  due  regard  to  the  wider  interests  of  the 
community.  It  is  rather  a  wonder,  under  the  circumstances,  that 
their  curricula  are  as  symmetrical  as  they  are. 

This  circumstance  makes  it  necessary,  that  from  time  to  time 
we  should  canvass  our  institutions  and  our  national  needs,  and 
ascertain  whether  the  former  are  answering  the  latter  to  as  full 
an  extent  as  possible.  If  it  appears  that  in  this  accidental  pro- 
cess of  development  we  are  leaving  great  gaps,  then  it  is  our 
duty  to  call  attention  to  this  fact,  and  urge  upon  the  directors  of 
our  institutions  and  upon  the  benefactors  of  the  public,  the 
necessity  of  remedying  such  defects  by  timely  action. 

Prominent  among  the  subjects  which  are  fundamentally 
important  to  our  national  welfare,  and  yet,  which  are  almost 
entirely  neglected  by  our  higher  institutions,  is  Education  in  its 
historical,  scientific,  and  practical  aspects.  It  is  the  purpose  of 
the  present  paper  to  investigate  the  relation  of  this  branch  of 
inquiry  to  the  country  at  large,  to  the  teaching  profession,  and 
to  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  themselves.* 

If  we  examine  our  national  institutions  and  arrange  them  in 
order  of  their  importance  to  national  welfare,  we  shall  certainly 
put  high  in  the  list  those  pertaining  to  the  training  and 
education  of  the  people.  The  work  of  education  itself  is,  of 
course,  of  fundamental  importance  to  national  welfare,  since  it 
is  one  of  the  most  important  means  of  transmitting  to  the  next 
generation  the  heritage  of  culture,  which  we  have  received 
from  our  predecessors.  It  is  the  means  by  which  the  con- 
tinuity of  progress  is  preserved.  Accordingly  as  it  is  well  or 
ill  done  is  the  basis  of  all  future  progress  maintained.  It  is 
moreover,  the  means  by  which  each  successive  generation  is 
made  more  worthy  than  the  preceding,  to  take  up  and  carry  on 
the  work  of  furthering  civilization  in  every  department.! 

The  work  of  education  determines  whether  the  individuals 
upon  whom  will  shortly  rest  the  burden  of  managing  the  world's 


*  See  note  I,  Appendix, 
f  Cp.  Spencer  on  Education. 


affairs  shall  be  properly  prepared  for  their  task,  and  con- 
sequently, whether  the  sacrifices  which  all  preceding  generations 
have  made  for  this  end  shall  be  crowned  with  legitimate  fruit. 
Surely  a  subject  of  this  importance  can  not  receive  too  much 
attention  from  those  who  are  interested  in  the  progress  of  the 
race. 

But  the  subject  is  of  special  importance  to  the  welfare  and 
existence  of  the  institutions  of  education  themselves.  It  is 
surely  proper  that  a  set  of  institutions  which  exist  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  education  should  encourage  and  develope 
the  science  of  education  itself  and  the  art  which  rests  upon  it. 
It  is  surely  fitting  that  they  should  devote  time  and  effort  to 
collecting  all  the  information  on  this  subject  which  is  obtain- 
able ;  that  they  should  investigate  everything  which  pertains  to 
the  proper  ends  and  means  of  this  very  work  in  which  they  are 
engaged.  One  would  suppose  that  they  would,  as  a  matter,  of 
course,  take  care  that  this  department  of  human  learning  so 
immediately  relating  to  themselves  should  be  adequately 
protected  and  fostered. 

The  subject  is  important  in  a  special  sense  to  a  large  and 
growing  class  in  the  community,  viz.,  the  individuals  who  carry 
on  the  actual  work  of  instruction  in  our  educational  institutions 
of  all  grades  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest.  It  is  surely  to 
their  interest  that  everything  should  be  done  to  promote  the 
advance  of  human  science  in  a  field  where  their  whole  interest 
is  concentrated ;  that  they  should  favor  every  plan  which 
promises  to  increase  our  knowledge  of  the  human  mind  in  its 
relations  to  training,  of  the  methods  of  reaching  desired  results 
and  of  the  proper  kind  of  results  to  reach. 

When,  however,  we  actually  examine  the  existing  institu- 
tions, we  shall  find  that  little  or  nothing  has  been  done  to  foster 
and  promote  this  branch  of  human  learning,  in  spite  of  its 
importance  in  these  various  respects.  In  spite  of  the  fact,  that 
we  have  some  300,000  teachers  in  this  country  whose  success, 
tested  by  any  proper  standard,  depends  on  the  fullest  and 
completest  knowledge  of  principles  and  practice  in  this  field;  in 
spite  of  the  fact,  that  wc  have  nearly  four  hundred  higher 
institutions    of    various    kinds    en'ra;r<'d     in     luriiiiiLr  out    such 


8 

teachers  for  this  work ;  in  spite  of  the  fact,  that  the  public  is 
paying  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  in  order  to  have  this  work 
of  education  carried  on  by  these  teachers,  and  that  it  is  therefore 
vitally  interested  in  their  knowing  everything  possible  about 
this  subject,  the  truth  remains,  that  in  this  whole  country 
there  is  no  centre  adequately  equipped  for  the  purpose  of 
fostering  and  promoting  this  great  department  of  human  science 
and  art.  In  the  case  of  most  of  our  large  institutions  the  subject 
is  not  even  mentioned  in  any  part  of  their  announcements.  This 
is  exceedingly  noticeable  in  regard  to  Harvard  College, where  they 
seem  to  have  thought  of  almost  everything  else,  but  pass  over 
this  branch  of  learning  entirely. 

This  state  of  things  which  may  be  explained,  though  it  can 
hardly  be  justified,  will  he  touched  upon  again  in  another  part  of 
the  paper. 

In  our  opinion,  the  time  has  fully  come,  when  the  subject 
of  education  in  its  historical,  scientific  and  practical  aspects, 
should  find  a  place  in  the  curricula  of  our  higher  institutions  of 
learning.  This  claim  is  made  on  a  three-fold  basis.  It  is,  in  the 
first  place,  one  of  the  prime  functions  of  the  University  as  such, 
to  contribute  as  far  as  possible  to  the  advance  of  human  science 
in  every  department  of  life.*  The  study  of  this  subject  affords, 
moreover,  a  liberal  training,  as  surely  as  the  study  of  many  of 
the  recognized  constitutents  of  our  present  curricula,  and  as 
such,  deserves  a  place  by  the  side  of  other  elements  of  a  liberal 
education.  And,  finally,  the  practical  results  which  would  flow 
from  such  incorporation  are  many  and  great. 

We  are  coming  more  and  more  in  this  country  to  recognize 
what  is  a  commonplace  in  all  other  civilized  lands,  that  the 
higher  institutions  of  learning  do  not  exist,  merely  in  order  to 
transmit  hereditary  intellectual  possessions  of  one  generation 
to  the  next ;  not  merely  to  train  the  rising  generation  in  existing 
scier^pe  and  art,  but  also,  and  quite  as  much  for  the  purpose  of 
furthering  science  itself.  Experience  has  shown,  that  in  order 
to  secure  adequate  attention  to  any  great  branch  of  science,  even 
in  the  best  of  these  institutions,  it  is  necessary  to  recognize  it  as 
a  proper  subject  of  university  work,  by  establishing  professor- 


*  See  Note  II.,  Appendix. 


ships,  whose  incumbents  have  the  duty  of  promoting  by 
original  investigations  in  every  direction  the  subjects  which 
they  represent.  It  is  in  this  way,  that  that  mangificent  system 
of  higher  institutions,  the  German  Universities,  have  gained 
the  leading  place  in  the  education  of  the  world.  It  is,  in  a 
word,  the  wise  endowment  of  research  in  connection  with 
a  practical  recognition  of  the  value  of  such  studies  which  has 
produced  this  remarkable  result.  Other  universities  are  follow- 
ing this  feature,  which,  although  it  did  not  originate  in  Germany, 
has  found  there  its  best  modern  exemplification.  We  recognize 
now,  that  if  a  number  of  professorships  are  established  in  any 
department  of  learning  and  properly  filled  by  suitable  men,  the 
result  can  not  fail  to  be  a  great  widening  of  our  range  of 
knowledge  along  such  lines  of  investigation.  When  we  can 
count  thirty  or  forty  professors  of  the  Science  and  Art  of  Educa- 
tion in  our  American  Universities,  we  may  be  sure  that  these 
disciplines  will  be  greatly  advanced,  and  that  the  professors 
will  discover  and  elaborate  much  which  will  be  of  great  value 
from  a  scientific,  as  well  as  a  practical  point  of  view.  It  is 
believed,  moreover,  that  in  such  a  country  as  ours,  where  the 
division  of  labor  is  carried  through  so  thoroughly,  this  is  the 
only  method  which  will  ensure  the  regular  and  rapid  advance 
of  human  science  in  this  department. 

But  as  it  is,  we  have  already  a  number  of  contributions  to 
the  science  of  education,  the  study  of  which  can  not  but  result 
in  the  same  sort  of  liberal  training,  which  is  produced  by  the 
pursuit  of  any  other  branch  of  speculative  thought  or  institutional 
history.  In  such  Colleges  as  Harvard,  Michigan,  Cornell,  Johns 
Hopkins,  Pennsylvania,  Yale  and  many  others,  it  is  recognized 
by  the  adoption  of  a  partial  or  complete  elective  system  for  the 
degree  of  A.B.,  tliat  the  value  of  any  study  so  accepted  is  about 
equal  to  that  oi  any  other  in  the  course  of  liberal  training. 
Now,  the  subject  which  is  called  the  science  of  education, 
though  still  very  limited,  and  made  up  for  the  most  part  of 
dis[Hited  propositions,  is  of  the  same  character  as  any  other 
branch  of  the  philosophic  or  moral  sciences,  and  if  pursued, 
even  in  its  present  form,  would  give  tlie  same  kind  of  discipline. 
The  study  of  educational  theories  is  a  branch  of  the  history  of 


10 

philosophy,  while  the  history  of  educational  institutions  and 
processes  and  methods  is  also  a  branch,  and  a  very  important 
one,  of  institutional  history.  Education  can  lay  claim  to  the 
same  sort  of  treatment  accorded  to  these  subjects  on  its  own 
intrinsic  merits  as  a  branch  of  liberal  training.  It  should  be  in- 
cluded, therefore,  as  a  branch  of  study  in  every  college  which 
has  adopted  the  elective  system  of  studies  leading  to  a  liberal 
degree. 

It  is,  moreover,  fitting,  that  the  college  and  university 
should  afford  opportunities  for  this  kind  of  work,  since  they  are 
the  great  trainers  of  our  teachers.  Even  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  which  has,  perhaps,  provided  on  the  whole,  the  best 
opportunities  for  such  education  as  may  be  gained  outside  of  a 
college,  three-fourths  of  the  principals  of  academies  are 
graduates  of  college.  Fully  one-third,  if  not  one  half  of  all  the 
graduates  of  the  colleges  of  this  country  teach  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  period  after  graduating.*  The  colleges  and  universities 
recruit  their  teaching  force  almost  exclusively  from  the  ranks  of 
college  men,  and  they  should  furnish  facilities  for  these  men  to 
prepare  themselves  for  their  work.f 

Finally,  the  subject  of  education  should  be  included  as  a  con- 
stituent part  of  the  curriculum  of  our  higher  institutions  of 
learning,  on  account  of  the  great  practical  advantages  which 
would  flow  from  such  a  step.  It  would  contribute  more  than 
any  other  one  thing  to  an  improvement  of  our  educational  system. 
It  would  do  this  in  several  ways.  As  already  noted,  it  would  tend 
to  increase  our  knowledge  of  educational  science  and  art,  so  that 
all  teachers  who  cared  to  do  so  could  improve  their  work  by 
applying  this  increased  knowledge.  To  those  teachers  who 
desired  to  prepare  themselves  professionally  for  their  work,  it 
would  afford  opportunities  which  do  not  exist  at  present.  By 
affording  these  opportunities,  it  would  tend  to  beget  a  desire  for 
this  sort  of  professional  training,  which  could  not  but  result  in  a 
great  increase  in  the  number  of  those  teachers  who  would  thus 
seek  to   prepare  themselves  better  for  their  work  ;  and  in  this 

*  Cp.    Normal    Instruction   in    Colleges,  Edward    North,  University   of  New 
York.     Regent's  Report,  1869,  p.  701. 
f  Cp.  Note  III.,  Appendix. 


1 1 

way  a  professional  spirit  would  grow  up,  which  would  produce  the 
most  beneficial  effect  in  raising  the  character  of  the  average 
teacher.  In  other  words,  the  universities  would  contribute  a 
very  important  service  in  offering  to  the  teachers  of  the  country 
a  professional  training  for  their  future  careers. 

The  possibility  of  establishing  in  the  universities  a  course 
of  study  in  the  science  and  art  of  education,  which  would  be  of 
aid  to  future  teachers  in  preparing  themselves  for  their  work 
has  been  much  discussed  of  late  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
It  is  my  firm  conviction,  after  carefully  following  this  discussion 
as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  inform  myself  from  actual  observa- 
tion and  from  the  literature  concerning  it,  that  those  who  have 
maintained  that  such  a  course  could  and  should  be  established 
have  made  out  their  case  clearly  and  conclusively. 

The  need  of  improvement  in  our  teaching  is,  I  think, 
apparent,  and  is  generally  conceded.  If  we  confine  our  attention 
in  the  first  instance,  to  the  domain  of  so-called  secondary  educa- 
tion, we  shall  have  to  admit,  I  think,  that  most  of  the  teaching 
done  in  this  field  is  of  a  very  low  grade.  Certainly,  no  one 
who  has  passed  through  the  different  forms  of  one  of  our 
preparatory  schools,  high  schools,  or  academies,  and  who  is 
endowed  with  a  reflective  turn  of  mind  can  resist  the  conviction 
that  the  great  majority  of  the  men  and  women  who  were  en- 
trusted with  the  task  of  training  him  were  unskilled  laborers 
in  this  most  important  of  fields. 

The  explanation  of  this  fact  in  the  case  of  many  of  the 
teachers  is  easy.  They  are  too  young  and  too  inexperienced  to 
be  very  successful  in  their  work.  But  even  in  the  case  of  those 
who  have  been  engaged  in  teaching  for  years,  the  majority  of 
them  would  be  classed  under  the  rubric  of  very  moderate  or  very 
poor  teachers.  The  case  is  in  nowise  different  in  the  colleges. 
A  very  large  percentage  of  the  men  engaged  in  the  work  of 
college  instruction  are  inefficient.  Surely  there  is  great  need 
of  trying  everything  which  promises  to  assist  in  remedying 
this  great  evil. 

The  most  striking  fact  relating  to  this  condition  of  things 
is  the  circumstance  that  in  tliis  whole  department  there  is  al- 
most  absolutely    no    trace    of    requiring  any   previous  special 


12 

training  for  the  work  of  education.  In  the  case  of  a  physician 
the  community  demands  that  he  shall  have  attended  some 
special  school  organized  for  the  particular  purpose  of  training 
those  who  wish  to  practice  medicine.  We  insist  that  he  shall 
have  the  certificate  of  a  body  of  specialists  that  he  has  given 
some  study  and  attention  to  the  bodies  of  the  patients  upon 
which  he  practices,  that  he  shall  have  studied  the  nature  and 
qualities  of  the  drugs  which  he  proposes  to  give,  and  that  he  shall 
have  begun  his  practice  under  the  eye  of  a  trained  specialist, 
and  thus  acquire  some  skill  before  he  may  go  Dut  and  set  him- 
self up  as  a  physician.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  dentists 
and  apothecaries.  We  refuse  to  entrust  even  our  teeth  to  the 
care  of  any  one  who  has  not  taken  a  course  of  special  training 
under  competent  authorities.  Nay  even  the  men  who  wish  to 
practice  upon  animals,  even  our  cat  and  dog  doctors,  must  first 
prove  that  they  have  spent  two  or  three  years  in  studying  all 
that  is  known  of  cat  and  dog  treatment  before  we  give  them  carte 
blanche  in  treating  our  useful  or  ornamental  animals.  It  is  only 
in  the  case  of  those  who  are  to  undertake  the  treatment  of  the 
minds  of  our  children  of  whom  we  demand  absolutely  no  evi- 
dence of  skill.  Socrates  accused  the  Athenians  justly  of  exer- 
cising more  discrimination  in  the  selection  of  the  trainers  for 
their  horses  and  cows  than  of  the  trainers  for  their  children. 
Since  Socrates'  time  we  have  made  great  improvements  in  the 
selection  of  the  trainers  of  our  animals,  but  we  are  still  on  the 
level  of  the  Athenians  so  far  as  selecting  teachers  for  our 
own  children  is  concerned. 

It  is  not  only  true  that  we  have  no  special  institutions  whose 
chief  object  is  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  this  grade  of  in- 
struction, but  there  are  few  courses  in  connection  with  existing 
institutions  which  have  for  their  purpose  this  peculiar  training 
suitable  for  the  future  teacher.  Nor  is  this  by  any  means  a  full 
statement  of  the  case.  When  we  come  to  examine  the  system 
of  appointing  teachers  we  shall  find  that  no  requirement  is 
made  in  such  schools  that  the  candidates  seeking  appointment 
shall  know  anything  about  the  subject  of  education  in  general  or 
the  teaching  of  the  particular  branches  he  will  take  up,  beyond 
that  minimum  which  he  must  necessarily  have  absorbed  in  com- 


13 

mon  with  every  educated  man  in  connection  with  his  own  edu- 
cational course  or,  possibly,  that  practical  and  empirical  ac- 
quaintance which  it  is  presumed  he  must  have  obtained  if  he 
has  actually  taught  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period.  Nor  is  this 
all.  If  we  go  into  the  schools  themselves  and  inquire  of  the 
actual  teachers  who  are  conducting  the  work  how  much  time 
and  attention  they  may  have  given  to  the  study  and  investiga- 
tion, we  will  not  say,  of  educational  problems  in  general,  but  of 
the  special  and  particular  problems  connected  with  the  branches 
they  are  teaching,  we  shall  be  amazed  at  the  ignorance  dis- 
played by  the  average  teacher  in  such  schools  in  regard  to  many 
of  the  fundamental  questions  relating  to  his  w^ork.  He  knows 
little  or  nothing  of  what  his  colleagues  are  doing  in  the  same 
line  in  other  places,  what  experiments  they  are  trying,  what 
results  they  are  attaining,  what  ideals  they  have  before  them 
and  by  what  methods  they  are  working  towards  them.  He 
knows,  if  possible,  still  less  about  what  his  predecessors  did  in 
the  same  field  before  he  entered  it.  He  has  never  given  any 
time  or  attention  to  the  history  of  teaching  in  his  branch.  He 
knows  nothing  of  the  experience  of  the  race  in  that  department 
though  it  may  be  a  recorded  one  dating  back  2,500  years.  In 
other  words,  he  is  going  it  alone  without  any  reference  to  the 
success  or  failure  of  the  thousands  who  may  have  traveled  the 
same  road  before. 

Not  only  is  he  ignorant  of  the  thought  and  experience  of  the 
race  in  the  field  in  which  he  is  at  work,  but  he  has  never  even 
given  any  considerable  reflection  on  his  own  account  to  the 
work  he  is  doing.  He  has  no  well  defined  idea  as  to  the  edu- 
cational purposes  and  objects  of  the  branch  which  he  is  teach- 
ing, or  as  to  the  wisdom  or  unwisdom  of  the  methods  which  he 
adopts.  In  a  word,  nearly  every  element  which  is  a  distinc- 
tively characteristic  result  of  professional  training  is  lacking, 
not  only  in  the  candidates  for  such  positions,  but  in  large  ninn- 
bers  of  the  present  incumbents. 

A  striking  confirmation  of  this  view  is  to  he  found  in  the 
class  of  considerations  which  determine  the  appointment  to 
positions  in  our  secondary  schools  and  colleges.  Leaving  out 
the  cases,  which  arc  unfortunately  too  nninerous,  where  personal 


14 

considerations  are  the  decisive  element,  let  us  take  an  instance 
where  the  determination  exists  to  select  the  best  men  who  can 
be  obtained.  What  are  the  questions  asked  in  regard  to  the 
candidate  ?  Suppose  it  is  a  position  to  teach  mathematics  in 
a  high  school,  preparatory  school  or  college.  Is  he  a  gradu- 
ate of  a  college  ?  Has  he  taught  ?  Did  he  succeed  in  his  teach- 
ing ?  Has  he  had  a  special  course  in  mathematics  ?  Can  he 
manage  the  boys  ?  If  you  can  answer  these  questions  in  the 
affirmative  you  are  perfectly  content — greatly  rejoiced,  in  fact, 
since  a  man  who  can  fill  this  bill  and  will  take  the  remuneration 
offered  is  a  avis  rara.  And  yet,  even  in  this  case,  there  is  no 
trace  of  a  requirement  that  the  candidate  shall  have  had  in  any 
peculiar  sense  a  professional  education.  Scholarship  and  a 
knack  of  getting  along  with  the  boys  are  the  two  things  sought. 
No  question  as  to  whether  the  candidate  knows  anything  of  the 
most  improved  existing  methods  of  teaching  his  subject  ;  no 
question  as  to  whether  he  knows  anything  of  the  experience  of 
the  great  army  of  mathematical  teachers  who  have  preceded 
him ;  no  question  as  to  whether  he  has  studied  the  opinions  of 
the  great  thinkers  as  to  the  peculiar  educational  function  of  his 
special  branches,  or  as  to  their  relation  to  other  branches,  and 
their  consequent  position  in  a  liberal  or  technical  curriculum — 
in  a  word,  no  question  which  would  indicate  that  this  man  is 
going  into  the  department  of  teaching  this  subject  rather  than 
into  any  one  of  numerous  occupations  where  a  knowledge  of 
mathematics  might  be  useful  to  him.  The  very  most  that  is 
required  is  "  successful  experience  in  teaching,"  which  means 
simply,  under  ordinary  conditions,  ability  to  manage  a  class  of 
boys  or  young  men  so  that  they  will  observe  reasonable  order 
during  the  class  room  hour.  Ordinarily  we  are  content,  as  we 
must  be,  with  the  assurance  of  a  very  moderate  amount  of 
scholarship. 

In  other  words,  we  do  not  recognize  in  this  department  of 
education  the  desirability  of  a  professional  training  as  distinct 
from  a  mere  knowledge  of  the  subject-matter  of  teaching,  or 
from  empirical  experience  in  the  class  room.  It  is  as  if  we 
were  to  be  content  in  the  case  of  the  civil  engineer  with  a 
knowledge  of  mathematics,  or  in  the  case  of  a  physician  with  a 
knowledge  of  materia  medica. 


15 

This  is  not  true  of  all  departments  of  education.  There 
is  in  the  field  of  so-called  elementary  education  a  growing  rec- 
ognition of  the  desirability  of  some  sort  of  professional  train- 
ing, as  is  demonstrated  by  the  rapidly  increasing  number  of 
normal  schools.  We  would  not  maintain  that  these  schools 
have  done  all  that  was  expected  of  them  by  the  enthusiastic 
men  who  labored  for  their  introduction  into  this  country,  nor 
can  we  admit  all  their  advocates  claim  for  them  as  they  actually 
exist  in  this  country  to-day;  nor  can  we  allow  that  even  under 
more  favorable  circumstances  they  could  achieve  what  certain 
educators  claim  for  them.  But  we  must  admit  that  they  have 
contributed  powerfully  to  improve  the  condition  of  elementary 
schools  in  all  countries  where  they  have  been  properly  organ- 
ized and  managed,  and  that  this  advantage  has  come  chiefly 
from  the  circumstance  that  they  recognize  the  necessity  and 
possibility  of  some  kind  of  professional  training  for  those  who 
expect  to  teach  in  our  elementary  schools.* 

The  field  of  the  normal  schools,  however,  at  the  best  is 
extremely  limited,  and  it  is  simply  impossible  that  they  should 
ever  furnish  the  kind  of  training  in  education  which  must  be 
given  if  we  are  to  improve  our  educational  system  rapidly  and 
continuously.  They  do  not  make  many  or  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  the  science  of  education,  and  we  cannot  expect  it  of 
them  under  present  conditions,  or  indeed,  under  any  conditions 
which  are  likely  to  be  realized  for  generations  to  come.  They 
do  serve  as  valuable  distributing  reservoirs  of  the  science  and 
art,  which  are  evolved  elsewhere,  and  we  can  not  now  do  with- 
out them  any  more  than  we  can  allow  ourselves  to  remain  de- 
pendent upon  tht;m  for  the  training  in  educational  art  and 
science  which  teachers  in  other  fields  require. 

It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  the  recognition  of  the 
necessity  of  some  sort  of  professional  training  is  characteristic 
of  Elementary  education,  while  in  the  domain  of  secondary  and 
higher  education  th(;re  is  scarcely  a  trace  of  it. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  three 
facts.  The  great  advance  in  this  respect  in  elementary  educa- 
tion is  due  chiefly  to  a  historical  accident.      When    the  work  of 

*  See  Note  IV.,  Appendix. 


i6 

developing  elementary  schools  was  finally  taken  up  iu  earnest 
the  demand  for  teachers  immediately  outran  the  supply.  It 
was  simply  impossible  to  get  a  sufficient  number  of  persons  who 
possessed  the  requisite  scholarship  to  teach  even  the  three  R's. 
The  recognition  of  this  fact  was  followed  by  the  establishment 
of  schools  for  the  education  of  teachers.  The  work,  in  the  first 
instance,  was  nearly  entirely  academic  in  character,  z.  e  ,  it  was 
confined  to  the  teaching  of  the  subject-matter  alone,  and  a  large 
majority  of  our  so-called  normal  schools  in  this  country  are  still 
in  this  stage,  i.  e.,  they  are  nothing  but  academies,  even  where 
they  pretend  to  be  something  more.  But  the  possibility  and 
desirability  of  developing  a  professional  training  in  conneetion 
with  such  schools  soon  became  evident.  As  a  result,  there 
was  a  thorough  going  and  in  some  cases  a  rapid 
revolution  and  evolution,  and  the  professional  school 
emerged  from  the  academy.  Our  best  normal  schools  can  now 
fairly  be  called  professional  schools,  for  even  where  they  keep 
the  academic  work  and  instruct  in  all  the  branches  taught  in 
our  common  schools,  as  most  of  them  do,  the  whole  instruction 
has  a  professional  character  and  is  given  with  reference  to  the 
fact  that  the  pupil  is  to  become  a  teacher  in  these  and  similar 
branches. 

The  history  of  higher  and  secondary  education  has  been,  on 
the  contrary,  a  very  different  one.  Our  colleges  and  universities 
have  always  sent  out  more  men  with  a  moderate  degree  of 
scholarship  and  a  willingness  to  teach  than  could  find  places  in 
our  schools  and  colleges.  As  a  consequence,  the  public  has 
never  felt  the  necessity  of  special  institutions  to  impart  the  re- 
quired degree  of  scholarship,  and  as  the  teachers  acquired 
their  education  in  an  institution  which  existed  as  much  for  the 
future  lawyer,  doctor,  clergyman  and  merchant  as  for  the 
teacher,  it  was  undesirable  and  impossible  to  shape  the  instruc- 
tion for  the  special  benefit  of  the  last  class. 

In  these  two  facts  then  lie,  I  believe,  the  explanation  of  the 
origin  of  the  present  condition  in  regard  to  this  question.  Its 
continuance  is  owing  to  conservatism  and  to  the  general  preva- 
lence of  what  must  be  regarded  as  a  perniciously  false  idea  that 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject-matter  of  teaching  is  a 
sufficient  preparation  for  a  teacher's  work. 


While,  therefore,  the  present  state  of  things  can  be  easily- 
explained,  it  can  not  be  so  easily  justified.  There  is  the  same 
inef^ciency  in  our  secondary  and  higher  work  which  formerly 
existed  in  every  branch  of  elementary  education.  It  is  due  in 
part  to  the  same  cause,  viz.:  lack  of  acquaintance  with  educa- 
tional literature  and  educational  experience.  It  may  be  largely 
remedied  by  similar  means,  viz.:  the  professional  training  of  the 
candidate  in  the  science  and  art  of  education  before  he  may- 
enter  the  work.  We  suffer  at  present  on  the  one  hand  from 
the  inexperience  of  the  beginner,  the  evil  effects  of  which  may- 
be greatly  reduced  by  calling  his  attention,  before  he  begins  his 
work,  to  the  pitfalls  which  lie  on  every  side  of  him,  by  present- 
ing to  him  the  results  of  educational  experience  and  thought, 
as  to  the  significance.from  a  general  and  a  special  point  of  view 
of  the  branches  he  is  going  to  teach  and  the  methods  with 
which  the  great  and  small  educators  of  the  world  have  tried  to 
accomplish  what  they  considered  desirable  ends.  We  suffer  on 
the  other  hand  from  the  experience  of  the  routinist,  who,  hav- 
ing begun  his  work  with  no  acquaintance  with  the  problems  or 
history  of  education  has  continued  it,  one  might  almost  say,  as 
a  handicraft,  with  no  desire  to  know  what  others  are  doing  or 
have  done,  are  thinking  or  have  thought  on  the  work  in  which 
he  is  engaged,  lie  would  have  been  a  very  different  teacher 
had  he  begun  his  career  with  an  appreciation  of  the  importance 
and  success  of  his  work,  with  the  knowledge  of  its  relation  to 
the  past  and  the  present,  and  under  the  influence  of  the 
esprit  de  corps  which  ever  springs  from  a  consciousness  of 
being  a  part  of  a  learned  professional  body. 

The  professional  training  of  teachers  for  our  higher  schools 
and  colleges  is  as  necessary  as  the  professional  training  of  ele- 
mentary teachers.*  This  will  appear,  I  think,  from  the  follow- 
ing consideration  : 

The  problems  of  secondary  education,  /.  <r,,  of  education  in 
our  secondary  schools  are,  for  a  part  of  the  course,  exactly  the 
same  as  those  of  the  so-called  elementary  education.  The 
term  secondary  school  we  apply  to  those  which  fit  for  colleges 
and  universities.     Now  very  many  such  schools  take  the  boys 

*  Sec  Note  v.,  Appendix. 


i8 

and  girls  at  an  early  age,  usually  at  ten  years  and  often  younger. 
Of  course,  in  the  case  of  such  pupils  the  pedagogical  problems 
are  exactly  the  same,  somewhat  modified,  it  is  true,  in  some  in- 
stances by  the  studies  pursued.  If  one  set  of  teachers  profit 
by  a  professional  training  in  work  of  this  grade,  it  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  the  other  must  do  so,  too. 

Again,  the  problem  of  secondary  education  in  those  grades 
above  the  lowest — say  in  the  three  years  immediately  preced- 
ing the  college — although  not  exactly  the  same,  are  quite  as 
broad,  complicated  aud  difficult  as  those  in  the  lower  grades. 
In  some  respects,  indeed,  from  a  practical  point  of  view  they 
are  more  difficult,  since  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  one  knotty 
question,  viz.:  what  branches  should  be  studied  is  in  a  large 
part  decisively  determined  by  the  practical  demands  of  our  mod- 
ern life  and  the  subsequent  course  of  study.  Reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic  must  be  largely  studied  in  the  early  years. 

In  the  third  place  the  pedagogical  questions  of  the  college 
are  in  many  respects  similar  to  those  in  the  upper  grades  of 
the  preparatory  schools.  In  the  average  college,  indeed,  with  a 
prescribed  course  and  text-book  study,  there  is  but  little  differ- 
ence in  the  problems  of  instruction  except  those  growing  out 
of  the  age  of  the  pupil.  A  foreigner  in  passing  from  the  high- 
est form  of  a  preparatory  school  to  the  freshman  class  of  an 
ordinary  college  would  notice  but  little  if  any  difference  either  in 
subject  or  method  in  the  instruction  of  good  teachers. 

Finally,  the  larger  pedagogical  problems  which  are  decided 
in  our  college  and  university  faculties  relating  to  subjects  of 
admission,  methods  of  examination,  system  of  electives,  are 
such  as  imperatively  demand  for  their  proper  decision  that 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  problems  of  education,  their 
genesis,  development  and  solution  which  if  general,  can  only  be 
the  accompaniment  of  a  course  of  professional  instruction 
which  shall  embrace  all  who  wish  to  teach. 

So  much  for  the  importance  of  the  problems  involved. 
The  necessity  of  some  preparation  on  the  part  of  those  who 
are  to  settle  these  problems,  either  theoretically  or  practically, 
follows  almost  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Logically  speaking,  there  are  several  ways  in  which  this 
might  be  done.     The   State  might  demand,   as  Adam   Smith 


19 

proposed  in  speaking  of  a  similar  topic,  that  all  candidates  for 
positions  in  our  higher  schools  and  colleges  should  pass  a  State 
examination  in  the  science  of  education,  educational  history, 
biographical,  institutional  and  methodical,  leaving  the  individuals 
to  get  the  necessary  instruction  where  they  can,  trusting  to 
individual  energy  to  organize  schools  for  this  work  as  a  business 
enterprise.  All  educational  history,  however,  shows  that  such 
a  scheme  is  unsatisfactory.  No  high  degree  of  acquirement  can 
be  demanded  as  a  matter  of  fact.  The  State  might,  however, 
establish  in  addition,  special  post-graduate  schools,  whither 
graduates  of  college  might  go  and  get  this  special  training  prior 
to  beginning  the  work  of  teaching.  The  Government  of 
Prussia  has  done  this  to  some  extent,  and  although  the  experi- 
ment seems  moderately  successful,  yet,  it  has  never  been  tried  on 
a  sufficiently  large  scale  to  decide  its  practicability.*  The  State 
might  also  establish  courses  in  the  science  and  art  of  education, 
in  connection  with  the  existing  schools  for  higher  instruction, 
and  require  all  candidates  for  such  positions  to  pass  an  examina- 
tion in  such  courses.  This  is  what  Germany  has  done  on  a  large 
scale,  and  the  result  is,  that  Germany  leads  the  world  in  educa- 
tional matters,  the  German  literature  on  educational  topics  being 
equal  in  value  to  that  of  all  other  countries.  Scotland  has  also 
done  something  in  this  line.  These  plans  in  their  entirety  we 
can  certainly  not  adopt  here  at  present.  It  would  be,  politically 
speaking,  impossible  to  require  our  private  colleges  to  limit 
their  appointments  to  those  who  had  passed  such  a  State  exami- 
nation. Some  of  our  State  institutions  in  the  West,  have  began 
the  work  by  establishing  courses  of  this  kind,  though  they  have 
few  or  no  special  privileges  for  students  who  have  completed 
them. 

Another  method,  and  one  which  is  practicable  here  and  in 
thorough  sympathy  with  our  American  way  of  doing  things,  is 
for  our  existing  colleges  and  universities  to  establish  such 
courses,  make  them  thoroughly  efficient,  and  then  trust  to  the 
growing  insight  of  the  public  and  of  teachers  themselves  to 
beget  a  public  sentiment  which  would  make  their  com])letion  a 
necessary  part  of  every  teacher's  equipment. 

*  See  Appendix.     Note  VI. 


20 

A  great  advantage  of  this  last  method  lies  iji  the  fact,  that 
the  teachers  in  acquiring  their  professional  training  would  be 
subject  to  the  liberalizing  influences  of  a  great  centre  of  culture, 
and  would  thus  avoid  that  narrowness  which  too  often 
characterizes  those  who  are  trained  to  a  specific  calling  in 
special  schools  which  liave  no  connection  with  liberal  depart- 
ments.* 

One  of  the  chief  practical  advantages  of  such  a  develop- 
ment, as  noted  above,  would  be  its  tendency  to  make  the  calling 
of  teacher  a  profession.  Our  schools  are  to-day,  speaking 
generally,  taught  by  men  and  women  who  have  no  idea  of  re- 
maining in  the  work  any  longer  than  they  can  help.  The 
majority  of  teachers  in  all  grades  from  the  ungraded  country 
schools  to  the  college  are  teachers,  so  to  speak  from  necessity. 
They  are  women  waiting  to  get  married,  young  men  waiting  until 
they  can  get  money  enough  to  go  to  the  Law  or  Medical  School,  or 
finish  their  theological  course  or  become  dentists  or  veterinary 
surgeons — anything,  in  fact,  except  teachers.  The  average  life 
of  the  teacher  in  the  United  States,  taking  in  all  classes,  is  not 
over  four  years  at  the  outside.  An  examination  into  the  educa- 
tional condition  of  the  great  State  of  Illinois,  showed  that  the 
average  public  school  teacher  did  not  continue  in  the  work 
above  three  years.  Even  the  superintendents  of  city  school 
systems,  presidents  and  professors  of  high  schools  and  princi- 
pals of  ward  schools,  were  only  teaching  until  they  could  find 
something  else  to  do. 

The  reason  for  this  state  of  things  is,  of  course,  a  very 
complex  one.  It  can  not  be  sought  in  one  circumstance.  A 
very  important  ground  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  the 
pecuniary  inducements  are  so  low,  compared  with  those  offered 
in  other  professions.  But  after  making  all  allowances,  one  of 
the  most  important  reasons  is  to  be  sought  in  the  fact,  that  the 
great  majority  of  teachers,  especially  in  our  secondary  schools 
and  colleges  have  really  never  become  interested  in  the 
scientific  aspects  of  their  work.  It  is  simple,  bald  handicraft, 
with  no  touch  of  the  ideal  or  scientific  in  any  of  its  aspects. 
They  have  no  notion  of  the  great  and  increasing  literature  on 

*  See  Appendix.    Note  VII. 


21 

the  subjects  tfeey  are  teaching.  They  have  never  been  called 
to  look  at  the  relations  of  their  field  of  work  to  other  important 
departments  of  human  science  and  art.  They  are  ignorant  of 
the  grand  opportunity  for  scientific  work  of  the  highest  type. 
Now,  the  establishment  of  such  courses  of  instruction  would  do 
this  very  service.  Men,  whose  attention  were  attracted  to  the 
subject,  would  spend  longer  time  in  preparing  themselves  for 
the  work,  and  having  prepared  themselves  specially  they  would 
be  much  slower  in  grasping  at  some  other  calling  at  the  first 
opportunity.  The  recognition  of  the  better  class  of  work  would 
lead  to  an  increase  in  the  salaries  of  the  teachers  themselves, 
and  thus  in  a  double  way  would  the  tendency  to  develope  a  pro- 
fession be  strengthened.  The  common  contempt  which  attaches 
to  the  idea  of  the  teacher,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  justified  by 
the  work  of  the  teachers  themselves.  An  intelligent  community 
can  but  attach  a  stigma  to  work  of  any  sort  which  is 
absolutely  unskilled.  And  of  this  character,  is  much,  if  not 
most  of  the  teaching  done  in  our  country. 

It  is  not  merely  the  acquirement  of  a  professional  training 
which  improves  the  character  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  follow- 
ers of  a  calling ;  but  the  persistence  in  the  calling,  which  the 
acquirement  of  such  training  favors,  tends  to  raise  the  general 
level  of  skill.  It  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  such  courses 
of  training  in  the  universities  promise  much  benefit  to  the 
teaching  calling. 

Even  if  this  result  should  not  appear  in  its  full  extent,  yet 
marked  advantages  would  flow  from  such  courses.  We  have 
already  in  this  country  scores  and  hundreds  of  teachers  who, 
since  they  are  in  the  work,  earnestly  desire  to  improve  it  in 
every  way  possible.  Many  have  followed  the  calling  for  a  long 
term  of  years.  They  are  thoroughly  alive  and  energetic  and 
wish  to  keep  abreast  of  what  is  doing  in  other  places  and 
countries.  Few  of  them  have  such  a  knowledge  of  foreign 
languages  as  would  enable  them  to  profit  very  much  by  trying 
to  read  publications  in  those  languages  on  such  topics.  Now 
how  can  they  get  this  information  .-•  They  wish  to  study  the 
science  and  history  of  education.  They  would  like  to  know 
the  educational  problems  of  other  times  and  the  methods  which 


22 

were  adopted  to  solve  them,  since,  by  a  comparative  study  only 
can  they  hope  to  get  clear  ideas  as  to  real  essentials  of  educa- 
tion and  be  brought  to  distinguish  between  the  necessary  and 
the  accidental.  They  wish  assistance  and  encouragement  from 
men-  who  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  this  field  and  have  made  it 
the  study  of  their  lives.  Now,  where  shall  they  go  to  get  this 
sort  of  aid  .''  To  our  sorrow  be  it  said  that  there  is  no  place 
this  side  of  the  Allegheny  mountains  where  anything  valuable 
of  any  considerable  extent  is  offered  to  them.  Nor  is  there, 
east  or  west,  any  place  where  facilities  for  the  study  of  the  art 
and  science  of  education  are  provided  to  anything  like  the  same 
extent  as  for  the  study  of  physics  or  history  or  chemistry  in 
very  many  centers. 

Even  if  no  others  were  reached  it  would  be  ample  return 
for  such  an  outlay  of  money  if  only  this  class  could  be  aided  in 
their  efforts  for  improvement.  There  are,  moreover,  in  every 
community,  and  fortunately  for  us  their  numbers  are  large  in 
this  country,  some  persons  who  choose  this  department  of  work 
because  they  would  rather  teach  than  do  anything  else  in  the 
world.  These  are  the  people  from  whose  conscientious  devotion 
to  duty  we  have  to  promise  ourselves  most  in  the  way  of  actual 
improvement  of  the  science  and  art  of  education.  They  should 
have  every  facility  for  properly  preparing  themselves  for  this 
great  work.  In  no  other  way  can  adequate  facilities  be  offered 
them. 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  magnitude  of  the  mere  money 
interests  involved.  The  cities  of  this  countr}',  for  example,  are 
expending  millions  and  millions  of  dollars  in  schemes  of  public 
education.  Where  do  they  get  the  men  to  guide  and  direct  the 
work  of  organizing  this  magnificent  machinery  .-'  They  are  at 
present  men  who  amidst  many  difficulties  of  work  and  limited 
means  have  done  their  best  to  learn  something  of  the  problems 
and  methods  of  education.  Usually  they  are  men  who  have 
had  no  opportunities  to  learn  anything  of  the  subject  except 
what  they  could  snatch  up  in  the  midst  of  a  busy  life.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  many  mistakes  are  made  .■*  That  the  same 
mistakes  are  made  again  and  again  which  have  been  made  in 
countless  numbers  of  cases  before  them,  and  which  might  have 


23 

been  avoided  by  the  possession  of  a  little  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  world  in  other  places  and  times  ? 

What  courses  then  relating  to  this  subject  could  and  ought 
to  be  given  in  connection  with  the  universities  ? 

It  is  possible  in  all  our  larger  colleges  to  give  such  courses 
as  one  professor  could  conduct.  They  would  include  lectures 
upon  the  science  of  education,  upon  the  history  of  speculative 
thought  in  this  department,  and  upon  the  classical  writers  and 
thinkers  in  this  field.  The  history  of  educational  institutions 
should  also  receive  attention.  The  practical  aspects  of  the  sub- 
ject should  not  be  neglected.  The  description,  history  and  dis- 
cussion of  methods  of  teaching,  the  plans  of  organizing  and 
conducting  schools  and  school  systems,  and  other  matters  re- 
lating to  practical  aspects  of  the  subject  should  be  fully  treated. 
In  a  few  centers  pedagogical  seminaries  should  also  be  estab- 
lished for  the  purpose  of  exciting  an  interest  in  original  inves- 
tigation and  of  training  these  few  and  choice  spirits  from  whose 
work  we  could  promise  ourselves  some  substantial  contributions  to 
the  science  and  art  of  this  subject.  ^  It  would  not  be  necessary, 
of  course,  for  all  who  were  looking  forward  to  be  teachers  to 
take  this  whole  course.  The  lectures  should  be  so  arranged 
that  a  student  by  attending  four  or  five  hours  for  a  year  might 
get  some  notion  of  the  importance  and  relation  of  the  work  to 
his  special  department. 

Many  objections  will  be  advanced  to  this  general  idea  It 
will  be  said,  for  example,  the  teacher  is  born,  not  made.  A  man 
who  has  the  making  of  a  teacher  in  him  will  be  a  good  teacher 
without  special  preparation,  and  a  poor  teacher  will  remain  a 
poor  teacher,  do  what  you  can  for  him.  This  is  the  same  old 
argument  which  is  made  to  do  duly  on  all  similar  occasions 
when  it  is  proposed  to  organize  any  special  professional  in- 
struction. It  was  made  against  the  medical  school,  against  the 
dental,  law,  veterinary,  and  technical  school.  The  idea  is  almost 
absurd  on  the  face  of  it,  and  it  is  with  considerable  difliculty 
that  one  restrains  one's  self  sufficiently  to  speak  in  conventional 
language  of  such  an  argument.  Of  course  you  cannot  make  a 
good  teacher  out  of  a  man  who  lacks  all  the  (juditics  of  a 
teacher.*  Nor  can  you  make  a  good  preacher  out  of  a  man  who 

*  See  Appendix.     Note  VIII. 


24 

lacks  all  the  elements  of  a  preacher,  nor  a  good  lawyer  or  phy- 
sician out  of  a  man  who  is  naturally  fitted  for  neither  profes- 
sion ;  nor,  to  take  a  more  striking  example,  a  good  painter  or 
musician  out  of  a  man  who  has  not  natural  talents  for  such 
callings.  And  yet  no  one  would  think,  now-a-days,  of  making 
that  any  objection  to  theological,  medical,  law,  painting  or  music 
schools. 

Cicero  answered  this  question  in  that  delightful  oration  for 
the  poet  Archias  in  the  passage  beginning:  Quaeret  qidspiam 
Quid. 

"  After  all  this  eulogy  of  learning  and  culture,  some  one  may 
ask  me:  How  would  you  answer  this  objection,  viz.:  that  those 
illustrious  men  whose  glorious  deeds  are  recorded  in  literature 
were  not  trained  by  this  culture.  Well,  that  is  true  of  some, 
and  yet  I  am  sure  of  this  at  any  rate  :  I  will  grant  that  there 
have  been  many  men  of  excellent  mind  and  great  ability  who 
without  this  training  have  been  eminent  and  cultured  by  virtue 
of  a  certain  native,  I  might  almost  say,  divine  gift  and  power  of 
their  own.  Nay  more,  I  will  add  this,  that  natural  ability  with- 
out culture  is  of  far  more  importance  in  all  weighty  matters 
than  culture  without  natural  ability.  And  yet,  after  all,  I 
maintain  that  when  to  excellent  natural  ability  is  superadded 
that  sort  of  modification  which  is  effected  by  culture,  then 
something  remarkable  and  altogether  unique  is  bound  to  ap- 
pear." 

Cicero  might  also  have  added  that  as  very  few  men  ever 
possess  this  high  order  of  natural  ability,  the  problem  of  actual 
life  is  how  to  make  the  average  man  better  fitted  for  the  duties 
which  come  to  him,  and  that  such  training  is  especially  adapted 
to  improve  this  medium  sort,  which,  after  all  is  said  and  done, 
constitutes  the  great  majority  of  mankind. 

This  special  training  in  the  history  and  methods  of  educa- 
tion increases  the  power  of  the  very  best,  who  alas!  are  too  few 
in  number;  makes  the  average  man,  who  forms  the  great  ma- 
jority of  all,  better  qualified  for  his  work,  and  keeps  the  worst 
from  making  the  grossest  sort  of  mistakes.  Just  as  a  course  in 
a  medical  school  certainly  improves  the  best  man  who  has  all 
the  natural  qualities  of  a  good  physician,  improves  even  more  the 


25 

medium  man  and  keeps  the  poorest  talent  from  actually  butch- 
ering his  patients  from  mere  ignorance. 

The  college  or  university  which  is  the  first  to  provide 
really  good  facilities  in  this  department,  not  merely  nominal 
facilities,  such  as  exist  at  one  or  two  of  our  institutions  already, 
will  certainly  reap  a  harvest  which  it  will  richly  deserve. 

It  is  a  curious  phenomenon  of  this  movement  that  mem- 
bers of  a  college  faculty  have  often  expressed  their  contempt 
for  such  a  plan  as  this  in  the  very  same  meeting  where  in  a  dis- 
cussion of  some  important  topic  of  college  pedagogics  they 
have  displayed  the  most  astounding  ignorance  not  only  of  ped- 
agogical principles,  but  also  of  all  history,  even  of  the  college 
system  of  our  own  country.  I  remember  talking  with  one  of 
the  most  prominent  members  of  the  faculty  of  Michigan  Uni- 
versity in  regard  to  the  establishment  of  such  a  chair  in  that 
institution.  He  remarked  that  there  was  no  use  of  such  a  de- 
partment. There  was  no  need  of  such  instruction  in  colleges. 
All  such  work  should  be  relegated  to  the  normal  school.  The 
very  same  week  the  college  policy  in  regard  to  some  of  the  most 
fundamental  questions  of  education,  was  altered  after  a  long 
discussion,  every  aspect  of  which  was  an  almost  purely  peda- 
gogical one.  The  professor  showed  in  its  course  that  he  had 
never  studied  such  topics  and  insisted  that  he  did  not  need  to 
do  so,  although  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  debate  and 
thought  his  opinion  was  entited  to  much  weight. 

Before  closing  this  paper,  it  is  desirable  to  present  briefly 
what  is  done  in  other  countries  in  this  field.  As  is  generally 
known,  the  appointment  of  teachers  in  Prussia,  is  regulated  by 
general  law  of  the  state,  whether  the  teachers  are  to  be 
appointed  in  private  schools  or  public.  It  is  also  known  that 
their  system  of  schools  is  so  arranged,  that  much  of  the  work 
done  in  this  country  by  our  ])reparatory  school  and  college  is 
there  done  by  one  institution,  viz.:  the  gymnasium  or  real  school. 
Now,  no  master  may  be  appointed  to  a  position  in  any  of  these 
schools  until  he  has  passed  a  state  examination  in  certain  set 
subjects.  This  examination  must  furnish  proof  that  the  candi- 
date has  graduated  from  a  real  school  or  gymnasium,  has  i)ursued 
at   tlie    university  special    studies   in  the  subjects  which  he  pro- 


26 

poses  to  teach.  Thus,  a  man  who  wishes  to  teach  Greek  or 
Latin  in  a  gymnasium,  must  show  that  he  has  graduated  at  a 
gymnasium,  and  then  studied  Greek  and  Latin  for  three  years 
at  a  university  after  graduation.  All  candidates  are  examined 
in  Philosophy  and  Pedagogics.  The  instructions  to  examiners 
direct  them  to  assure  themselves  that  the  candidate  possesses  a 
general  knowledge  of  the  history  of  Modern  Pedagogics,  and  a 
familiarity  with  the  essential  elements  of  methods  of  teaching. 

To  give  those  who  expect  to  be  teachers  an  opportunity  to 
prepare  themselves  in  this  subject,  lectures  on  Pedagogics  are 
delivered  in  all  the  universities.  The  Government  is  not  con- 
tent with  leaving  the  subject  here.  So  much  is  demanded- of 
all  who  expect  to  become  teachers.  Special  opportunities  are 
provided  for  those  who  desire  to  pursue  the  subject  further. 
This  is  done  by  two  classes  of  institutions  : 

L  The  seminaries  in  connection  with  the  universities  and, 

II.  Post-graduate  seminaries  on  an  independent  basis. 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  the  Germans  are  not  at  all 
satisfied  even  with  their  present  opportunities.  There  is  an 
active  movement  in  favor  of  providing  more  extensive  facilities 
showing  two  things;  (i)  that  they  are  well  satisfied  with 
present  results  as  a  beginning,  and  since  the  new  plans  involve 
working  along  the  old  lines,  and  (2)  that  present  facilities  are 
insufficient. 

In  a  paper  by  Dr.  R.  H.  Hofmann,  Professor  of  Pedagogics 
in  the  University  of  Leipzig,  published  in  1881,  the  author 
takes  the  ground  that  much  has  been  accomplished,  but  also 
that  much  remains  to  be  done.  According  to  his  statement, 
five  professors  lecture  regularly  in  Pedagogics  in  this  university, 
and  the  lectures  are  well  attended  by  those  who  expect  to 
become  teachers  in  the  various  branches  of  study. 

The  facilities  for  this  sort  of  work  in  England  are  very 
inadequate,  being  even  inferior  to  those  in  our  own  country.  In 
two  Scotch  Universities,  however,  Aberdeen  and  Edinburgh, 
chairs  of  Pedagogics  have  been  established,  and  men  who  wish 
certain  public  positions  in  the  school  system  must  be  examined 
in  this  branch.* 


*  See  Appendix.     JV.  IX,  British  Universities  and  the  Training  of  Teache'S. 


In  our  own  country,  a  start  has  already  been  made,  which 
is  worthy  of  a  brief  mention. 

Chairs  of  Pedagogics,  either  in  form  or  reality  have  been 
established  in  the  Universities  of  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Michigan, 
Cornell  and  Johns  Hopkins.  The  work  at  Michigan  is  worthy 
of  special  notice  on  several  accounts. 

It  is  under  the  charge  of  an  accurate  scholar  of  long, 
practical  experience.  It  extends  at  present  over  two  years  and 
embraces  seven   courses  : 

1.  Practical  course,  discussing  the  art  of  teaching  and 
governing,  four  hours  per  week,  for  one  half  year. 

2.  Theoretical  and  critical,  four  hours  per  week,  for  one 
half  year. 

3.  School  supervision,  three  hours  per  week,  for  one  half 
year. 

4.  Seminary,  three  hours  per  week,  for  one  half  year. 

5.  History  of  education,  three  hours  per  week,  for  one  half 
year. 

6.  History  of  education,  three  hours  per  week,  for  one  half 
year. 

7.  Comparative  study  of  educational  systems,  two  hours  per 
week,  making  the  equivalent  of  ten  hours  per  week,  for  one 
year. 

The  system  in  Michigan  University,  is  the  elective  under 
which  one  subject  counts  for  as  much  as  another,  and  the  extent 
to  which  those  courses  supplied  a  want,  may  be  judged  by  the 
number  of  students  taking  courses.  The  growth  of  this 
attendance  will  also  indicate  the  part  which  the  offering  of 
such  facilities  have  in  developing  a  want  for  them. 

Tiie  number  of  students  choosing  the  practical  courses 
grew  from  32  in  1879  to  74  in  1886,  more  than  double. 

The  number  in  the  historical  courses  rose  from  4  in  18S3, 
the  first  year  in  which  the  course  was  offered,  to  36  in  1886. 
The  number  in  the  theoretical  course  remained  nearly  stationary, 
rising  from  65  in  1879,  to  70  in  1886.  Of  the  two  hundred 
students  graduating  from  the  college  department  in  1885  and 
1886,  eighty-three  had  taken  one  or  more  of  these  courses.  Jhe 
total  number  of  different  students  attending  all  these  courses 
rose  from  72   in  1879  ^^  ^'7  "'^  i8§6. 


28 

In  closing  this  paper,  let  me  briefly  summarize  and  present 
in  a  slightly  different  form,  the  considerations  which  I  have  tried 
to  emphasize. 

The  cause  for  which  I  plead  is  the  establishment  in  connec- 
tion with  our  colleges  and  universities,  of  ample  opportunities 
for  the  professional  training  of  teachers  for  our  higher  schools 
and  college. 

The  grounds  on  which  this  is  urged,  are  in  brief,  the 
following  : 

I.  There  is  great  need  of  such  training,  as  is  evidenced  by 
the  fact,  that  the  average  teaching  in  such  schools  is  far  below 
what  it  might,  and  should  be  in  point  of  efficiency.  As  a  class, 
the  actual  teachers  in  our  schools  are,  to  a  large  extent,  men 
and  women  who  are  looking  forward  to  entering  some  other 
occupation  as  soon  as  practicable,  and  are  devoting  their  whole 
time  to  preparation  for  such  work.  Having  given  little  or  no 
attention  to  the  study  of  professional  questions  before  they  begin 
their  work,  they  are  not  compelled  to  do  so  after  entering  it 
by  the  example  or  precept  of  their  colleagues.  Looking  forward 
to  some  other  calling,  oftentimes  out  of  mere  lack  of  interest 
in  their  present  work,  they  rarely  ever  begin  the  serious  study 
of  professional  questions,  even  where  for  lack  of  opportunity 
they  never  leave  the  business.  It  is  evident  that  the  work  of 
such  a  class  as  this,  can  not  be  of  a  very  high  character  when 
tried  by  any  fair  test  of  efficiency.  It  is  also  evident  from  any 
close  examination  of  the  work  actually  done.  Any  director  or 
head  master  will  tell  you  in  close  confidence,  that  it  is  very  easy 
to  get  teachers,  but  very  difficult  to  get  good  teachers.  Every 
parent  knows  quite  well  that  the  really  good  teachers  of  their 
children  are  the  exceptions,  and  they  can  only  judge,  of  course, 
by  the  most  superficial  considerations,  such  as  the  order  the 
teacher  keeps,  the  hold  he  may  succeed  in  getting  of  the  boys 
in  certain  external  directions,  etc.  There  is  a  vastly  greater 
number,  who  without  giving  any  such  signs  of  incompetency  as 
would  strike  a  parent,  are  doing  the  children  untold  damage  by 
false  methods  and  through  ignorance  of  the  simplest  pedagogical 
principles.     There  are  other  evidences  also — but  it  is  not  neces- 


29 

sary  to  take  more  time  to  prove  what  almost  all  will  agree  is  the 
case,  that  much  of  our  teaching  is  of  a  comparatively  low 
grade. 

II,  It  is  possible  to  remedy  this  inefficiency  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  by  such  a  course  of  special  training  and  study 
as  can  be  established  in  connection  with  our  colleges  and 
universities.  This  is  proved  by  the  experience  of  Germany,  of 
Scotland,  and  of  certain  States  in  our  own  country.  Of  course, 
we  do  not  maintain  that  the  completion  of  such  course  will  of 
itself  make  a  teacher.  The  study  of  a  science  will  never  of  it- 
self make  a  man  capable  to  practice  the  art.  But  it  will  be  of 
untold  value,  in  that  it  makes  the  work  intelligent,  and  raises  it 
from  the  rank  of  a  mere  calling  or  handicraft  to  that  of  a  fine 
art.  It  puts  scientific  work  in  the  place  of  mere  empiricism, 
and  thus  makes  the  possibilities  of  the  case  in  the  direction  of 
good  work,  enormously  greater.  It  makes  the  natural  born 
teacher  a  much  better  man  for  the  work,  by  really  filling  him 
with  the  true  professional  spirit,  and  equipping  him  with  the 
latest  and  most  approved  means  of  doing  his  work.  It  im- 
proves the  mediocre  teacher,  relatively  speaking,  to  a  still 
greater  extent,  and  makes  a  passable  teacher  out  of  the  rriost 
unpromising  stuff.  It  circumscribes  very  much  the  damage 
which  the  hopelessly  unfit  man  would  otherwise  do,  in  this 
most  precious  of  all  vineyards.  It  will  tend  to  improve  the  great 
rank  and  file  of  teachers,  just  as  the  establishment  of  medical 
schools  and  dental  schools,  have  raised  the  rank  of  the  great 
mass  of  medical  and  dental  practitioners.  Indeed,  I  know  no 
better  comparison  for  the  purposes  of  illustration  than  this 
very  class  of  dentists.  The  practice  of  dentistry  was  for  a  long 
time,  the  merest  empirical,  unskilled  handicraft.  The  dentist, 
was  the  village  barber  or  blacksmith.  So  long  as  the  business 
was  carried  on  as  a  secondary  matter  by  men  who  followed  other 
callings  as  well,  and  who  had  had  no  other  preparation  for  their 
work  than  what  they  could  pick  up  empirically  from  their  own 
experience,  it  was  evident  that  there  was  no  hope  of  any  con- 
siderable improvement.  The  establishment  of  special  schools 
for  instruction  in  this  art  has  raised  it  from  one  of  the  lowest 
of    trades,    to    the    rank    of    a    profession.       Teaching    in    our 


30 

higher  schools  and  colleges  has  long  been,  at  least,  respectable, 
owing  to  the  necessary  scholarship,  which  even  the  pretense  of 
such  work  requires,  but  it  is  not  now  and  never  will  be  a  true 
profession,  until  it  is  fully  acknowledged  that  to  the  highest 
form  of  such  work,  a  special  preparation  is  necessary. 

III.  In  accordance  with  these  views,  it  should  now  be  our 
endeavor  to  secure  the  establishment  of  such  professional 
courses  in  connection  with  our  colleges  and  universities.  Such 
instruction  if  it  consisted  only  of  courses  of  lectures  on  the 
history  of  educational  doctrine  and  educational  institutions 
would  be  exceedingly  valuable,  in  that  they  would,  at  least,  in- 
troduce the  student  to  the  general  direction  of  educational 
development  and  progress.  But  in  addition  to  these,  there 
should  be  practical  courses  which  should  deal  with  the  methods 
appropriate  to  different  subjects  in  the  different  stages  of  school- 
work,  and  a  seminary  which  should  have  for  its  object  the 
encouragement  of  original  work  on  the  part  of  the  members  in 
the  sphere  of  pedagogics,  theoretical,  practical  and  historical. 

IV.  The  establishment  of  such  courses  would  bring  with 
them  the  following  advantages  : 

1.  As  said  before,  it  would  offer  an  opportunity  for  the 
teacher  to  secure  such  preparation  for  his  future  calling,  as  could 
not  but  result  in  much  more  efficient  work  in  the  school-room 
in  every  direction. 

2.  The  existence  of  such  opportunities  could  not  but  result 
in  attracting  to  the  line  of  teaching,  those  who  have  a 
natural  taste  for  such  work,  and  who  would  expect  to  follow  it 
as  a  permanent  calling, 

3.  The  natural  result  of  this  would  be,  that  more  men  and 
women  would  take  up  this  occupation  as  their  life-work,  which 
would  mean  that  a  long  step  had  been  taken  toward  making  a 
profession  of  what  is   now  only  a  trade. 

4.  The  reflex  action  of  all  this  would  be  an  enormous  im- 
provement of  our  schools  ;  a  great  change  in  the  social  position 
of  the  school-master  as  such,  and  a  corresponding  change  in 
the  pubHc  estimate  of  the  importance  of  good  education. 

5.  The  advantages  thus  far  enumerated,  would  all  accrue, 
even  if  as  a  result  of  all  this  work  there  should  be  no  positive 


31 

additions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  science  and  art  of  education. 
But  one  of  the  chief  advantages  of  this  Hne  of  development, 
would  be  the  increase  in  our  knowledge  of  pedagogics,  which 
could  not  but  follow  the  establishment  of  such  opportunities  at 
the  great  centers  of  learning  in  this  country.  We  may  say  now, 
that  a  very  small  fraction  of  the  teachers  of  this  country  in  our 
higher  schools  and  colleges  are  giving  any  attention  or  thought 
to  the  development  of  the  science,  or  to  improvements  in  the 
art  of  education.  The  causes  of  this  are  various,  but  the  most 
important  one  of  all,  is  the  utter  ignorance  of  what  is  within 
the  easy  reach  of  any  society  in  regard  to  the  history  of  the 
science  and  art  of  pedagogics.  Their  attention  has  never  been 
directed  to  the  fact,  there  is  here  a  great  and  largely  neglected 
field  of  investigation  which  is  peculiarly  theirs,  and  which  holds 
out  large  promises  of  great  results  if  it  be  properly  worked. 
The  probable  additions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  theory  and  art 
of  education  which  would  follow  a  successful  attempt  to  turn 
the  attention  of  great  numbers  of  teachers  to  their  careful 
snd  systematic  study  are  simply  incalculable.  It  can  only  be 
compared  to  the  progress  in  the  science  of  medicine,  of  juris- 
prudence, of  dentistry,  of  physics,  of  chemistry,  which  has  been 
the  outcome  of  making  the  universities  the  nurseries  of  these 
sciences,  and  to  some  extent,  the  arts  belonging  to  them.  To 
the  higher  schools  of  a  country,  the  colleges  and  universities  is 
entrusted  the  nurture  of  science  par  excellence.  Theirs,  the 
duty  to  receive,  preserve,  and  increase  the  stock  of  knowledge, 
which  is  the  outcome  of  all  previous  civilization  and  progress. 

In  a  word,  the  establishment  and  proper  equipment  of  these 
departments  will  contribute  to  the  advantage  of  our  children 
directly  and  indirectly  by  giving  them  better  teachers;  it  will 
secure  a  better  application  of  the  money  spent  on  education  ;  it 
will  give  teachers  a  better  opportunity  to  prepare  themselves 
for  their  high  calling;  it  will  dignify  their  occupation  and  tend 
to  raise  it  to  the  rank  of  a  learned  profession  ;  it  will  further  the 
very  purpose  for  which  our  educational  institutions  exist ;  and 
last,  but  by  no  means  least,  will  result  in  a  wide  extension  of 
human  science — which  is  itself  one  of  -the  chief  ends  of 
humanity. 


APPEN  DIX 


NOTE     I. 

The  literature  on  this  subject  is  not  large,  although  it  is  in 
some  respects  important  and  significant.  The  addresses  pre- 
pared by  eminent  specialists  for  particular  occasions  form  the 
most  valuable  portion  of  it.  The  following  list  contains  refer- 
ences to  the  most  accessible  portion  of  the  literature. 

1.  Prof.  S.  S.  Laurie,  of  Edinburgh  University. — Inaugural 
Address  before  the  University  on  the  Training  of  Teachers. 
London,  1882. 

2.  J.  G.  Fitch,  M.  A.      One  of  Her  Majesty's  Inspectors  of 

Schools.  Relation  of  the  University  to  the  Teaching  Pro- 
fession, in  Lectt(}-es  on  Teaching.     Cambridge,  1882. 

3.  Prof.  W.  H.  Payne,  of  Michigan  University. — Education 
as  a  University  Study  in  Contributions  to  the  Science  of 
Education.     New  York,  1886. 

4.  Prof.  Edward  North,  of  Hamilton  College. — Normal  In- 
struction iti  Colleges.  University  of  New  York  Regents' 
Reports.     1868.     p.  701. 

5.  Dr.  Thomas   Hill,   President  of   Harvard   College. —  The 

Study  of  Didactics  in  Colleges.  Barnard's  American  Jour- 
nal of  Education.     Vol.  15,  p.  179. 

6.  Report  of  Committee  on  the  felt  need  of  supplying  pedagogi- 

cal training  to  the  students  of  the  Colleges  in  the  State,  made 
to  the  Convocation  of  the  University  of  New  York.  Re- 
gents' Reports.     1882.     P.  39. 

7.  Prof.  C.  V.  Stoy,  of  the  University  of  Jena. — Educational 
papers  in  various  German  periodicals. 

8.  Dr.  Fricke,  of  the  Waisenhaus,  in  Halle. — Das  padago- 
gische  Seminar.     Halle,  1883. 

9.  Prof.  E.  J.  James,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. — The 

32 


33 

Higher  Education  of  Teachers  at  the  University  of  Jena. 
New  England  Journal  of  Education.  Vol.  X\'III.,  p.  356 
and  p.  372. 

10.  Weilingen. — Das  PddagogiscJie  Seminar  in  jcna.  Jena. 
Gustav  Fischer.     1880  (.^) 

11.  Karl  Schmidt. — GescJiicJite  der  Pddagogik. — \'ol.  IV., 
p.  782  and  foil. 

12.  Mathew  Arnold.  The  Prussian  Schoolmasters ;  their 
Training,  etc.,  in  Higher  Schools  and  Universities  in  Ger- 
many. Macmdlan  &  Co.  1874.  Pp.  (Sj  and  especially  82 
and  foil. 

13.  Other  references  to  the  subject  in  the  Standard  German 
Histories  of  Education.  Reports  of  Discussions  in  School- 
masters' Associations  and  Conventions  given  in  the  Edu- 
cational periodicals,  particularly  the  London  journal  of 
Education,  Die  Allgemeine  Schn'zeitiing,  etc. 

14.  WiESE.  Verordnungen  und  Gesetze  fiir  die  Hoheren 
Schulen  in  Preussen.     1864-74. 

15.  Illinois  School  Journal.    Normal.    Illinois.    \'ols.  I  &  II. 

16.  Herbert  Spencer.  Essays  on  Education.  New  York,  188 1. 


NOTK    II. 

The  great  function  of  a  University  is  to  teach  ;  and  to  sup- 
ply the  world  with  its  teachers.  The  very  title  of  Doctor  which 
marks  the  highest  academic  distinction  in  each  of  the  faculties 
implies  that  the  holder  is  qualified  to  teach  the  art  he  knows. 
And  if  the  experience  of  these  later  times  has  brought  home  to 
us  the  conviction  that  the  art  of  communicating  knowledge,of  ren- 
dering it  attractive  to  a  learner,  is  an  art  which  has  its  own  laws 
and  special  philosphy  :  it  is  surely  fitting  that  a  great  Uni- 
versity, the  bountiful  mother  whose  special  ofTicc  it  is  to  care 
alike  for  all  the  bases  of  human  culture  and  to  assign  to  all  arts 
and  sciences  their  true  place  and  relation,  should  fill  an  honored 
place  for  the  master  science,  a  science  which  is  so  closely  allied 
to  all  else  which  she  teaches — the  science  of  teaching  itself. 
0.  (i.  Fitchs   "  Lectures  on  Teaching!'      (  ha/>ter  /. 


34 

NOTE    III. 

Whatever  objections  may  be  made  to  Normal  Schools  there 
is  no  use  of  shutting  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  their  graduates 
have  succeeded  in  getting  hold  of  many  of  the  most  prominent 
situations  in  our  educational  system  in  competition  with  college 
graduates.  No  one  would  think  of  maintaining  that  the  curric- 
ulum of  the  average  normal  school  is  to  be  compared  with  that 
of  a  college  so  far  as  its  scholarship  or  culture  value  is  con- 
cerned. The  only  ground,  then,  on  which  we  can  account  for 
the  growing  preponderance  of  normal  school  graduates  in  posi- 
tions for  which  their  curriculum  scarcely  fits  them,  is  that  the 
advantage  which  they  enjoy  from  their  technical  training  gives 
them  a  start  which  the  college  man  in  the  time  which  he  de- 
votes to  teaching  as  a  rule,  can  not  overtake. 

An  eminent  educator  in  the  State  of  New  York  said  more 
than  twenty  years  ago  : 

"The  great  deficiency  of  college  graduates  is  ignorance  of 
the  methods  of  instruction  now  adopted  in  our  better  schools 
and  ignorance  of  school  discipline  and  management.  The  work 
these  graduates  are  called  upon  to  perform  is  entirely  different 
from  that  of  the  professors  who  have  made  the  last  and  perhaps 
strongest  impression  upon  them,  and  whose  methods  they  are 
unsconsciously  inclined  to  imitate.  College  work  is  far  from 
fitting  students  for  acadamic  teaching.  Often  it  unfits  them  by 
substituting  the  more  recent  impression  of  college  class  work 
for  those  of  the  preparatory  school  from  which  they  came. 
College  graduates  are  superior  in  culture  and  general  knowledge 
but  deficient  in  technical  skill.  Unless  our  colleges  do  some- 
thing toward  preparing  teachers,  a  large  part  of  the  work  of 
academic  teaching  must  go  into  the  hands  of  females." 

What  was  foretold  has  come  to  pass.  The  proportion  of 
females  in  the  teaching  body  of  these  schools  has  steadily  in- 
creased and  they  are  almost  without  exception  normal  school 
pupils.  Of  course  this  is  not  the  only  cause  of  this  substitution, 
but  it  has  been  undoubtedly  a  contributing  cause.  The  super- 
intendent of  a  system  of  city  schools,  in  conversing  with  the 
writer  about  the  choice  of  assistant  teachers  in  the  city  high 


35 

school,  said  that  for  all  positions  which  they  could  at  all  fill  he 
preferred  normal  school  graduates  to  college  graduates. 
"Neither  class  remain  very  long  with  us  if  they  are  really  able, 
and  the  normal  school  men  have  the  great  advantage  that  they 
can  begin  from  the  very  first  hour  and  attain  a  fair  degree  of 
success,  while  the  college  men,  if  fresh  from  college,  flounder 
around  in  the  most  helpless  way,  and  require  two  to  three  years 
to  become  as  efficient  as  the  normal  school  men  are  when  they 
begin.  Of  course  if  they  were  to  remain  for  a  long  series  of 
years  this  difference  would  disappear  and  the  culture  of  the 
college  would  tell  in  the  long  run,  but  as  it  is,  the  men  for  us  are 
the  normal  school  men  wherever  they  can  teach  the  subjects 
at  all." 

A  similar  though  by  no  means  so  marked  difference  is 
observed  in  Germany  in  favor  of  the  technical  training  of  the 
normal  school  graduate  as  compared  with  the  average  teacher  in 
the  gymnasium  ;  for  although  the  latter  has  had  a  training  in 
this  respect  much  superior  to  our  college  men,  yet  it  is  still  very 
inferior  to  that  of  the  Normal  School  graduate. 

No  one  can  doubt,  who  has  taken  any  pains  whatever  to 
institute  extended  comparisons,  that  the  teaching  in  our  elemen- 
tary schools  is  much  better  on  the  average  than  that  in  the 
secondary  school  and  college,  and  that  the  teachers  in  the  former 
come  much  nearer  realizing  the  ends  which  they  set  before 
them  than  those  in  the  latter.  Those  ends  are  oftentimes  not 
the  highest,  as  we  should  expect  from  the  culture  of  the  teachers, 
but  they  are  kept  clearly  in  view  and  pursued  with  a  system  and 
determination  which  results  in  as  high  a  degree  of  success  as  is 
possible  under  the  circumstances. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  so-called  secondary  and  higlicr  edu- 
cation have  much  to  learn  in  this  respect  from  elementary  work. 

NOTE  IV. 

"  Young  men  who  intend  to  engage  in  the  work  of  higher 
instruction  need  careful  training  before  entering  thereon,  both  in 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  profession  and  also  in  its 
technique  ;   because  first :    good  teaching  and  successful  school 


36 

management  is  an  art  which  must  be  learned  either  by  careful 
and  definite  previous  instruction  or  by  school  room  experiments 
of  which  pupils  are  the  subjects  and  too  often  the  victims ; 
because,  second,  the  teachers  in  academies  and  high  schools 
are  teachers  of  teachers  and  become  the  models  after  which 
many  teachers  of  common  schools  shape  their  methods  :  third, 
a  large  percentage  of  the  teachers  in  our  higher  schools  con- 
tinue in  the  employment  but  a  few  years  at  best,  and  have  no 
time  therefore  to  waste  in  a  school  room  apprenticeship,  too 
often  disastrous  ;  because,  fourth,  the  chances  for  a  permanent 
continuance  in  the  profession  of  desirable  young  men  would  be 
largely  increased  if  the  first  steps  in  it  could  be  made  pleasant 
and  successful  by  careful  previous  instruction  and  because, 
fifth,  in  the  language  of  President  Hill,  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  Didactics  may  be  called  a  liberal  study  ;  it  is  that  every 
student  may  be  considered  prospectively  as  the  head  of  a 
family,  and  that  therefore  the  art  of  teaching  is  of  universal 
utility — a  view  which  has  been  urged  with  great  force  and 
cogency  by  Herbert  Spencer,  who  adds  in  conclusion  :  "  the  sub- 
ject which  involves  all  other  subjects  and  therefore  the  subject 
in  which  the  education  of  every  one  should  culminate  is  the 
theory  and  practice  of  teaching." 

Repoj't  of  Committee  of  Convocation  of  University  of  New 
York.     Regent's  Report,  1883. 

"  If  there  is  a  philosophy  of  education  and  an  art  of  teaching, 
they  are  as  applicable  to  the  advanced  departments  of  instruc- 
tion as  to  the  elementary.  The  teachers  of  academies  as  much 
need  systematic  education  into  the  best  methods  of  their  duties 
as  do  the  teachers  of  the  common  schools  into  those  peculiar  to 
them.  Many  a  lad  after  he  has  completed  his  elementary  edu- 
cation has  had  his  taste  for  study  absolutely  destroyed  and  his 
scholarship  ruined  by  an  unskillful  teacher." 

Regent's  Report  for  id>67,  p.  ^^• 

NOTE  V. 

The  proposition  has  often  been  made  that  this  training 
should  be  given  in  special  post-graduate  schools.  Thus  Presi- 
dent Hill  of  Harvard  College,  in  the  address  referred  to  in  Note 


I,  said  that  Normal  Schools  should  be  attached  to  our  Univer- 
sities, and  bachelors  of  art  who  intend  to  teach  should  be  ursred 
first  to  take  one  or  two  year's  special  instruction  in  the  art  of 
teaching.  The  committee  which  reported  on  this  subject  to  the 
Convocation  of  the  University  of  New  York  in  1881,  (Regent's 
Report  for  1882,  p.  346,)  remarked  that  such  a  school  would  in 
the  present  state  of  our  education  be  too  likely  to  repeat  the  expe- 
rience of  the  French  Ecole  Normal,  which  after  being  twice 
closed  on  account  of  insufficient  patronage,  did  not  secure 
a  firm  foothold  until  after  thirty-six  years  of  vicissitudes.  We 
may  add  that  it  does  not  even  now  correspond  to  such  an  insti- 
tution as  President  Hill  proposed.  The  various  philogical 
seminaries  in  the  German  Universities  are  in  so  far  pedagogical 
seminaries  as  that  they  are  intended  for  the  special  benefit  of 
those  who  expect  to  become  teachers,  but  their  attention  is 
almost  entirely  confined  to  developing  a  sound,  scholarship  in 
philology,  and  but  little  effort  is  devoted  to  studying  padagogy 
in  any  but  this  indirect  form.  The  post-graduate  pedagogical 
seminaries  in  Prussia,  although  they  have  done  a  good  work,  do 
not  at  all  answer  the  purposes  which  can  be  attained  by  the 
system  proposed  in  this  paper.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  only  the 
merest  fraction  of  those  who  hold  the  higher  i)ositions  in 
the  gymnasia  or  real  schools  have  ever  been  in  these  seminaries 
at  all.  The  reasons  why  such  institutions  are  not  likely  to  suc- 
ceed are  numerous  and  of  force  in  all  countries  alike. 

NOTK  VI. 

It  is  not  good  that  this  -science,  or  indeed  that  any  other 
science  should  be  mainly  pursued  per  se,  in  separate  training 
institutions  or  professional  colleges  where  the  horizon  is  neces- 
sarily bounded,  and  where  everything  is  learned  wiih  a  special 
view  to  the  future  necessities  of  the  clas.s-room  scholar.  It  is 
to  the  Universities  that  the  power  is  given  in  the  liighcst  degree 
of  co-ordinating  the  various  forms  of  preparation  for  the  busi- 
ness of  life  ;  of  seeing  in  due  proportion  the  study  and  the  prac- 
tice the  art  and  science,  the  intellectual  efforts  which  make 
the  man  as  well  as  those  which  make  the  lawyer  or  divine.        It 


397470 


38 

is  to  the  Universities  that  the  public  should  look  for  these  in- 
fluences which  will  prevent  the  nobler  professions  from  degen- 
erating into  crafts  and  trades.  And  if  the  schoolmaster  is  to 
become  something  more  than  a  mere  pedant,  to  know  the  rules 
and  formulas  of  his  art  and  at  the  same  time  estimate  them  at 
their  true  value,  it  is  to  the  University  that  he  must  look  for  his 
guidance,  and  it  is  from  the  University  that  he  should  seek  in 
due  time  the  attestation  of  his  qualifications  as  a  teacher,  be- 
cause that  is  the  authority  which  can  testify  that  he  is  not 
merely  a  teacher,  but  a  teacher  and  something  else. 

J.  G.  Fitchs   "  Lectures  o?i  TeachiJig."     Chap.  I. 

NOTE  VII. 

BRITISH  UNIVERSITIES  AND    THE   TRAINING  OF 

TEACHERS. 

There  is  no  professorship  of  education  at  any  University 
of  England,  Wales,  or  Ireland.  At  the  Universities  of  Cambridge 
and  London  there  are  special  examinations  for  teachers,  on  the 
results  of  which  certificates  or  diplomas  are  granted  ;  but  there 
are  no  educational  degrees.-  Technically  speaking,  therefore, 
education  is  not  a  university  subject  in  these  countries.  At 
Cambridge,  under  the  auspices  of  a  teachers'  training  syndicate 
appointed  by  the  university  early  in  1879,  lectures  on  teaching 
have  been  given  for  eight  years  past  ;  but  they  are  not  per- 
manently established,  and  may  come  to  an  end  at  any  time. 
They  are,  as  a  rule,  fitfully  and  poorly  attended,  and  cannot  as 
yet  be  pronounced  a  decided  success.  Except  in  the  training 
colleges  and  at  the  College  of  Preceptors,  there  is  no  other  sys- 
tematic course  of  lectures  for  teachers  outside  Scotland. 
In  Scotland  there  are  two  chairs  of  education,  established 
in  1876  out  of  funds  left  by  the  well-known  Dr.  Bell, 
one  at  Edinburgh,  and  the  other  at  St.  Andrew's.  Both  these 
chairs  are  very  ill  endowed.  In  1886  a  school-masters'  diploma 
was  established  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 

I  shall  endeavor  in  the  space  at  my  disposal  to  describe 
what  is  actually  being  done  for  the  training  of  teachers  by  these 
various  agencies. 


39 

I  will  begin  with  Cambridge,  and  first  as  to  its  courses  of 
lectures.  They  usually  consist  of  one  set  on  psychology  in  its 
bearing  on  teaching,  delivered  as  a  rule  by  Mr.  James  Ward  of 
Trinity  College;  another  set  on  the  history  of  education  ;  and  a 
series  of  disconnected  lectures  on  practice  delivered  by  promi- 
nent head  masters  and  other  teachers.  Amongst  these  last  may 
be  mentioned  as  specially  valuable  the  lectures  on  stimulus  and 
on  discipline,  by  Mr.  Arthur  Sidgwick,  formerly  an  assistant 
master  at  Rugby ;  and  one  on  'A  Day  in  a  Class-Room,'  by  Dr. 
Abbott,  head  master  of  the  City  of  London  School.  As  far  as 
I  know,  only  one  connected  course  of  lectures  on  the  practice 
of  education  has  ever  been  delivered  before  the  university  ;  viz., 
that  by  Mr.  Fitch,  which  has  since  appeared  as  his  well-known 
'  Lectures  on  Teaching.'  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the 
sporadic  lectures  by  eminent  school-masters  above  referred  to 
can  be  properly  said  to  form  a  part  of  training  in  any  real  sense; 
but  they  are  certainly  more  attractive  than  a  prolonged  course, 
and  are  in  many  ways  suggestive  and  stimulative.  The  reasons 
why  these  lectures  as  a  whole  are  not  more  satisfactorily 
attended  are  mainly  two, — first,  because  under-graduatcs,  while 
reading  for  their  degrees,  have  very  little  time  to  devote  to  other 
subjects  ;  and,  second,  because  it  is  the  habit  at  our  universities 
to  look  upon  lectures  as  merely  preparation  for  examinations, 
and  to  value  examinations  solely  by  the  prizes  attached  to  them. 
Now,  there  are  no  prizes  attached  to  the  teacher's  examina- 
tions and  the  head  masters  of  our  public  schools  practically  ignore 
them  altogether,  while  the  University  Agency  for  the  supply  of 
masters  does  not  even  mention  the  certificates  on  its  form  of 
qualifications.  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  undergraduates 
do  not  crowd  the  lecture  room.  It  is  only  fair,  however,  to 
state  that  the  lectures  on  education  suffer  no  more  than  others 
under  similar  drawbacks.  The  writer  of  this  paper,  when  lec- 
turing at  Cambridge  a  short  while  ago,  on  the  history  of  edu- 
cation, can  remember  on  one  occasion  to  have  counted  as  many 
as  seventeen  undergraduates  present.  At  the  time  there  were 
about  nineteen  hundred  undergraduates  at  the  university,  of 
whom  perhaps  one-quarter  were  destined  to  become  .school 
masters,  at  least  for  a  time. 


40 

Before  a  candidate  can  enter  for  the  examination  of  the 
Cambridge  Teachers'  Training  Syndicate,  he  or  she  must  have 
given  evidence  of  something  of  the  nature  of  a  sound  general 
education.  The  test  is  not,  as  at  London  and  Edinburgh,  that 
the  candidate  must  be  a  graduate  of  the  university.  Some  nine 
fairly  simple  examinations  are  named,  one  of  which  must  have 
been  passed  ;  or,  to  make  the  condition  still  more  elastic,  the 
candidate  must  have  "  been  presented  for  examination  b}'-  a 
training-college  approved  by  the  syndicate."  This  lowering  of 
the  initial  test,  no  doubt,  still  further  removes  education  from 
the  status  of  a  university  subject;  but  it  renders  the  examina- 
tion far  more  widely  available,  especially  for  women,  who  form 
about  nine-tenths  of  the  candidates  as  a  rule.  In  the  ex- 
amination of  June,  1886,  held  at  the  three  centres,  Cam- 
bridge, London,  and  Cheltenham,  fifty-one  candidates  passed,  of 
whom  only  three  were  men  (students  of  the-Finsbury  Training- 
College).  There  are  two  certificates  granted, — one  for  the 
theory,  history,  and  practice  of  teaching  ;  and,  where  this  has 
been  won,  another  may  be  obtained  for  practical  efficiency  in 
teaching.  The  subjects  for  the  former  are  : — (i)  The  theory  of 
education  :  (a)  the  scientific  basis  of  the  art  of  education,  or  pure 
psychology;  (/;)  the  elements  of  the  art  of  education,  or  the  ap- 
plication of  psychology  to  school-work  in  the  training  of  the 
faculties  (the  senses,  memory,  conception,  etc).  (2)  The  history 
of  education  in  Europe  since  the  revival  of  learning,  a  general 
knowledge  being  required  of  systems  of  education  which  have 
actually  existed,  of  the  work  of  eminent  teachers,  and  of  the 
theories  of  leading  writers  on  education  up  to  the  present  time. 
A  more  detailed  knowledge  is  required  of  special  subjects  set 
from  year  to  year.  For  example,  the  special  subjects  for  1887 
are,  'John  Amos  Comenius,  his  Life  and  Educational  Works,' 
by  Professor  Laurie,  and  'The  Life  and  Work  of  Arnold;'  those 
for  1888  will  be  'Locke's  Thoughts  concerning  Education,'  and 
'The  Teaching  of  the  Jansenists  at  Port  Royal.'  (3)  The  prac- 
tice of  education  ;  (a)  method,  which  deals  with  actual  teaching 
and  examination  ;  (d)  school  management,  which  deals  with  hy- 
giene, furniture,  apparatus,  time-tables,  etc.  One  paper  is  set 
on  each  of  three  groups    of  subjects;    and  a  fourth  paper  is 


41 

added,  containing  a  small  number  of  questions  of  an  advanced 
character  on  each  of  the  three  groups.  It  is  into  this  paper 
that  questions  on  physiology  and  physical  training  are  usually 
introduced  ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  I  cannot  but  think  that 
these  last-named  subjects  are  not  sufficiently  represented. 
Candidates  must  be  twenty  years  old  before  entering  for  the  ex- 
amination, and  must  pay  a  fee  of  fifty  shillings  to  the  syndicate. 

The  certificate  for  practical  efficiency,  as  I  have  pointed 
out,  can  only  be  obtained  by  those  who  already  hold  the  certifi- 
cate which  I  have  just  described.  Candidates  must  "have  been 
engaged  in  school-work  for  a  year  in  some  school  or  schools  re- 
cognized for  the  purpose  by  the  syndicate."  Training-colleges 
of  course  come  under  this  designation,  "  if  the  syndicate  is  sat- 
isfied with  the  duration  and  character  of  the  training  in  practical 
work  received  by  the  candidates."  The  bases  for  the  certificate 
are,  (a)  examination  of  the  class  taught  by  the  candidate;  (d) 
an  inspection  of  the  class  while  being  taught ;  {c)  questions  put 
to  the  teacher  in  private  after  the  inspection  ;  and  {i/}  a  report 
made  by  the  head  master  or  mistress.  I  do  not  think  tiiere  have 
been  many  candidates  for  this  certificate  other  than  the  stu- 
dents of  those  few  training-colleges  which  are  established  for 
teachers  of  middle  and  higher  schools.  Ikit  then  they  are 
almost  the  only  people  who  use  the  examination  at  all. 

It  may  be  as  well  to  mention  here  that  the  syndicate  does 
not  prescribe  the  use  of  any  particular  books  for  its  examination, 
except  those  mentioned  under  the  head  of  'special  subjects.' 
Mr.  Ward  has,  however,  from  time  to  time  put  forth  a  list  of 
some  of  those  books  which  may  be  safely  recommended  to  stu- 
dents, and  from  which  they  can  make  their  own  choice.  I  need 
scarcely  say  that  Dr.  i^arnard's  admirable  compilations  play  a 
prominent  part  in  this  list. 

I  have  given  a  very  full  description  of  the  Cambridge 
scheme,  both  bccau.se  I  consider  it,  on  the  whole,  the  best  un- 
connected with  a  training-college  in  Great  ]?ritain.  and  because 
by  so  doing  I  .shall  be  saved  the  trouble  of  entering  into  such 
minute  detail  again.  Let  me  mention  here,  for  the  information 
of  the  curious  in  such  matters,  that  in  the  charter  of  Cavendish 
College,  founded  at  Cambridge  in    1876,  the  objects  mentioned 


42 

are,  "(i)  To  enable  students  somewhat  younger  than  ordinary 
undergraduates  to  pass  through  a  university  course,  and  obtain 
a  university  degree  ;  (2)  To  train  in  the  art  of  teaching  those 
students  who  intend  to  become  schoolmasters  ;  (3)  To  secure 
the  greatest  possible  economy  in  cost  as  well  as  time."  I  can 
not  ascertain  that  any  steps  have  ever  been  taken  to  realize  the 
second  object.  Probably  all  that  was  meant  was  that  the  college 
was  intended  to  provide  '  pupil-teachers '  in  the  elementary 
schools,  with  an  opportunity  for  finishing  their  general  educa- 
tion. Who  knows  but  that  some  day  we  may  get  it  to  mean 
both  that  and  something  more  ? 

For  the  present,  the  only  part  the  University  of  London 
can  play  in  the  higher  training  of  teachers  is  that  of  an  ex- 
aminer. As  I  have  already  said,  it  possesses  an  'examination 
in  the  art,  theory,  and  history  of  teaching.'  Unlike  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge,  it  restricts  its  examination  to  its  own 
graduates,  and  it  grants  a  'teacher's  diploma'  on  the  result. 
There  is  no  restriction  as  to  age,  and  the  fee  is  five  pounds. 
Four  papers  are  set, — one  on  '  mental  and  moral  science  in  their 
relation  to  the  work  of  teaching  ;'  two  on  '  methods  of  teaching 
and  school  management ;'  and  one  on  '  the  history  of  educa- 
tion.' The  science  and  the  methods  are  very  much  the  same  as 
at  Cambridge  ;  but  the  history  consists  solely  of  set  books.  It 
is  described  as  "  the  lives  and  work  of  eminent  teachers,  and  the 
systems  of  instruction  adopted  in  foreign  countries."  The  set 
books  for  1887  are  as  follows  :  'History  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  1535  A.  D.'  by  Bass 
Mullinger;  '  Education  and  School,'  'Theory  and  Practice  of 
Teaching,'  by  E.  Thring  ;  '  On  the  Action  of  Examinations,'  by 
Latham  ;  '  Quelqes  mots  sur  I'lnstruction  publique  en  France,' 
by  Michael  Break 

There  are  no  doubt  great  advantages  in  the  direction  of 
definiteness  and  thoroughness  to  be  derived  from  the  use  of  set 
books  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  leads  to  this  unsatisfactory 
position, — that  in  1887  teachers  will  gain  their  diploma  without 
having  shown  any  particular  knowledge  of  the  public  instruction 
of  England,  Germany,  and  Switzerland,  and  what  is  worse,  with- 
out having  shown  any  particular  knowledge  of  the  theories  and 


43 

methods  of  Froebel  and  Pestalozzi.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  one  or 
two  questions  on  these  last  are  generally  introduced  into  the 
other  papers.  It  may  be  well  to  note  that  among  the  many 
things  coming  under  the  head  of  methods  of  teaching  and 
school  management  we  find  mentioned  physical  exercises,  drill 
and  recreation.  But  there  is  another  point  of  still  greater  im- 
portance. The  University  of  London  grants  but  one  certificate, 
— not  two,  as  does  Cambridge, — and  includes  in  that  one,  as  a 
sine  qua  non,  practical  skill  in  teaching  and  in  the  management 
of  a  class.  No  directions  are  given  as  to  how  this  last  and  most 
difficult  test  is  to  be  applied.  But  hitherto  the  plan  adopted  has 
been  to  require  the  candidates  to  send  in  sketches  of  lessons  on 
four  different  subjects  chosen  by  themselves,  and  to  give  one  or 
two  of  these  lessons  to  a  class  in  the  presence  of  the  examiners 
But  inasmuch  as,  in  the  necessity  of  things,  such  classes  as  can 
be  got  near  at  hand  have  to  be  chosen,  the  teachers  know  noth- 
ing personally  of  the  children,  and  are  quite  in  the  dark  as  to 
the  actual  knowledge  which  the  class  possesses.  The  conse- 
quence is,  that  the  test  is  far  from  satisfactory,  and  merely 
serves  to  show  what  a  teacher  will  do  under  very  distressing 
circumstances.  At  the  best,  it  can  only  reveal  whether  a  teacher 
is  altogether  incompetent  ;  all  the  higher  qualities  must  remain 
unassessed.  A  large  part  of  those  who  take  degrees  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  London  are  the  teachers  of  elementary  and  middle 
schools  ;  and  these,  by  the  time  they  have  graduated,  have 
already  had  many  years  of  school  experience  ;  hence  the  insist- 
ence on  the  practical  test  as  an  integral  part  of  the  London  ex- 
amination for  teachers.  The  Cambridge  examination  is  rather 
designed  for  those  who  intend  to  become  school-masters  and 
school-mistresses.  The  London  examination  has  only  been  in 
existence  some  three  or  four  years,  and  so  far  has  been  but  very 
little  made  use  of. 

As  I  said  at  the  commencement,  there  arc  two  chairs  of 
pedagogy  in  Scotland, — one  at  the  University  of  lulinburgh, 
and  the  other  at  the  University  of  St.  Andrew's.  Their  work 
is  sufficiently  alike  to  allow  one  description  to  do  for  both.  I 
will  choose  the  chair  of  Edinburgh,  hrld  by  I'rof.  S.  S.  Laurie.* 


*The  chair  at  St.  Andrew's  is  held  by  Prof.  J.  M.  I  J.  Mcikicjolin,  whose  n.imc 
and  work  must  be  well  known  in  the  United  States. 


44 

This  chair  was  founded  in  1876,  and  commenced  work  with 
fourteen  students, — a  number  which  has  steadily  been  added  to, 
until  the  total  has  now  reached  fifty-one.  Of  these  students, 
about  three-fifths  are  '  senior  students  '  of  the  denominational 
training-colleges,  who,  having  passed  a  qualifying  examination 
in  Latin  and  mathematics,  and  stood  in  the  first  division  of  the 
government  list  of  successful  candidates  for  Queen's  scholar- 
ships (i.e.,  entrance  scholarships  at  the  training-colleges),  are 
allowed  to  attend  the  university.  The  remainder  are  students 
who  have  graduated  or  are  about  to  graduate.  This  latter  class 
will  not  be  likely  to  attend  in  larger  numbers  until  either  the 
subject  of  education  is  included  in  the  studies  qualifying  for  an 
M.  A.  degree,  or  an  act  is  passed  requiring  all  school-masters 
in  Scotland  above  the  elementary  grade  to  hold  a  diploma  in 
education.  A  long  course  of  eighty-five  lectures  is  delivered 
between  the  first  of  November  and  the  first  of  April.  Of  these 
lectures,  about  a  dozen  are  purely  psychological,  dealing  with  the 
intelligence  and  moral  nature ;  fifty  are  on  method,  dealing  with 
principles  of  teaching  and  the  detailed  application  of  these  ;  the 
rect  on  the  history  of  education.  These  last  naturally  vary 
considerably  from  year  to  year ;  but  every  year  a  careful 
analysis  of  Quintilian  and  Locke  is  given.  I  must  confess 
that  the  choice  of  these  two  last  as  staple  subjects  seems  to  me 
peculiar.  All  the  students  attend  three  examinations,  and  write 
three  essays.  These  form  the  subject  of  professorial  criticism. 
Those  students  who  have  not  been,  or  who  are  not,  training- 
college  students  practice  the  art  of  teaching  in  the  normal 
schools  (by  permission),  and  are  examined  by  the  head  masters 
of  those  schools  on  practical  matters  of  school  management. 
The  head  masters  report  to  the  professor.  Last  year  the  uni- 
versity instituted  a  school-masters'  diploma  specially  for 
secondary  school-masters,  which,  however,  is  to  be  conferred 
only  on  graduates  in  arts  of  Edinburgh.  Candidates,  moreover, 
must  have  attended  the  class  of  the  theory,  art,  and  history  of 
education  in  the  university,  and  must  pass  an  examination  in 
these  subjects  conducted  by  the  professor  and  an  examiner  ap- 
pointed by  the  university  court.  The  subjects  of  examination 
in  April,   1887,  were,  (a)  the  professor's  lectures  ;  {b)  Locke, 


45 

'  On  the  Conduct  of  the  Human  Understanding  ;*  (c)  Milton, 
'Tractate  on  Education;'  (^/)  Comenius,  'Great  Didactic' 
Each  candidate  must  further  give  evidence  either  that  he  has 
attended  a  course  of  practical  instruction  in  a  training-college  ; 
or  that  he  possesses  the  government-  qualification  in  the  prac- 
tice of  teaching  required  of  graduates  and  provided  in  the 
'  Scottish  Code  ;'  or  that  he  has  taught  publicly  for  at  least  one 
year  in  a  school,  and  holds  such  a  certificate  of  practical  skill 
from  the  head  master  as  may  be  considered  satisfactory  by 
the  university.  Lastly,  each  candidate  must  satisfy  the  univer-* 
sity  of  his  practical  aptitude  as  a  teacher  in  some  special  sub- 
ject or  subjects  in  which  he  has  received  instruction  in  the 
university  or  in  any  institution  recognized  by  the  university  as 
qualifying  for  degrees.  I  may  note  in  conclusion  that  the  fee 
for  the  diploma  is  two  guineas.  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to 
ascertain  whether  St.  Andrew's  is  likely  to  follow  the  lead  of 
Edinburgh  in  instituting  a  school-masters'  diploma. 

It  only  remains  for  me  to  speak  of  the  College  of  Preceptors 
in  London.  This  institution  provides  three  courses  of  evening 
lectures  for  teachers,  and  confers  diplomas  of  three  grades, — 
associateship,  licentiateship,  and  fellowship.  The  lectures  are 
on  (a)  psychology  and  its  relation  to  teaching  ;  (/>)  practical 
teaching  ;  and  (r)  the  history  of  education.  The  courses  used 
to  consist  of  ten  lectures  each  ;  but  in  future  the  number  of 
lectures  on  the  first  two  subjects  will  be  doubled.  They  are 
open  free  to  all  members  of  the  college  (annual  subscription  one 
guinea),  or  to  any  one  else  on  payment  of  half  a  guinea  for  each 
course. 

The  examination  for  the  three  kinds  of  diploma  all  include 
tests  of  a  general  education  of  gradually  increasing  severity  ; 
but  these  tests  may  be  omitted  in  the  cases  of  persons  possess- 
ing a  university  degree,  or  who  have  passed  some  examination 
equally  satisfactory  to  the  college.  What  most  concerns  us 
here  arc  the  strictly  pedagogic  subjects.  To  begin,  then,  with 
the  associateship.  Candidates  must  give  evidence  of  having 
been  at  least  one  year  engaged  in  teaching,  or  of  having  attended 
a  year's  course  of  the  lectures  for  teachers  at  the  college.  The 
subjects  are,  (i)  the  elements  of  mental  and  moral  science  ;  (2) 


46 

physiology,  with  special  reference  to  its  application  to  the  laws 
of  health  and  to  physical  and  mental  education  ;  and  (3)  lesson- 
giving  and  criticism  of  methods,  including  the  sketching  of  a 
lesson  on  some  assigned  subject,  the  suggesting  and  discussing 
of  cases  of  difficulty  in  teaching  and  discipline,  and  the  propos- 
ing and  criticising  of  methods.  For  the  licentiateship  the  can- 
didates must  give  evidence  of  having  been  at  least  two  years 
engaged  in  teaching.  The  subjects  are  the  same  as  for  the 
associateship,  with  the  addition  of  logic  in  its  application  to 
^education  ;  while  the  third  section  now  includes  "  a  thesis  on 
the  life,  character,  methods,  and  influence  of  some  distinguished 
educator  to  be  selected  by  the  candidate,  or  a  description  of  the 
organization  and  methods  of  some  school  of  repute  derived  from 
personal  inspection  and  examination."  The  candidates  for  the 
fellowship  must  give  evidence  of  having  been  not  less  than  five 
years  engaged  in  teaching.  Sections  No.  i  and  No.  2  are  the 
same  as  before,  but  of  a  more  advanced  character.  Section  3 
becomes  "  government  of  a  school,  including  lesson-giving  and 
school  organization  in  all  its  departments."  Section  4  is  "  the 
history  of  education  and  educational  methods,  with  studies  of 
distinguished  educators,  English  and  foreign  ;  and  a  description 
and  discussion  of  the  methods  and  organization  of  schools  and 
colleges  of  note  at  home  and  abroad."  The  fees  in  the  first 
case,  for  examination  and  diploma  together,  are  two  guineas  ; 
in  the  second,  three  guineas  ;  and  in  the  third,  six  guineas. 
Examinations  are  held  twice  a  year, — at  midsummer  and  Christ- 
mas. During  1886,  for  the  three  diplomas  together,  136  candi- 
dates entered, — 70  men  and  66  women.  Of  these,  45  obtained 
associateship,  4  the  licentiateship,  and  i  the  fellowship.  This 
will  serve  to  show  both  how  much  the  examinations  are  used, 
and  the  severity  observed  in  awarding  the  diplomas. 

H.  CouRTHOPE  Bowmen. 
Science,  Vol.  X.,  No.  247. 


THE  FOLLOWING  IS  A  LIST  OP  THE  PAPERS  READ 
BEFORE  THE   ASSOCIATION. 


Those  Marked  *  out  of  Print,      f  Not  Printed. 


iSyi.     Compulsory  Education.     By  Lorin  Blodget.  * 

Arbitration  as  a  Remedy  for  Strikes.     By  Eckley  B.  Coxe.  ♦ 

The  Revised  Statutes  of  Pennsylvania.     By  R.  C.  McMurtric.  • 

Local  Taxation.     By  Thomas  Cochran.  * 

Infant  Mortality.     By  Dr.  J.  S.  Parry. 
1872.     Statute  Law  and  Common   Law,  and  the  Proposed  Reiision  in    Pennsyl- 
vania.    By  E.  Spencer  Miller,  f 

Apprenticeship.     By  James  S.  \Vhitney. 

The  Proposed  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania.     By  Francis 
Jordan. 

Vaccinatio7i.     By  Dr.  J.  S.  Parry.  * 

The  Census.     By  Lorin  Blodget.  * 
iSjS-      The   Tax  System  of  Pennsylvania.     By  Cyrus  Elder.  * 

The   Work  of  the  Constitutional  Convention.     By  A.  Sydney  Biddle. 

What  shall  Philadelphia  do  with  its  Paupers  ?     By  Dr.  Isa.ic  Kay. 

Proportional  Representation.     By  .S.  Dana  Ilorton.  * 

Statistics  Relating  to  the  Births,  Deaths,  Marriages,  etc.,  in  Philadelphia. 
By  John  Stockton-Hough,  M.  D. 

On  the    Value  of  Real  Scientific  Research.     By  Dr.  Ruschenbcrgcr. 

On  the  Relative  Influence  of  City  and  Country  Life,  on  Morality,  Health, 
Fecundity,  Longevity  and  Mortality.     By  John  Stockton- Hough,  M.  I  >. 
1874.      The  Public  School  System  of  Philadelphia.     By  James  S.  Whitney. 

The   Utility  of  Government  Geological  Surveys.     Professor  J.  P.  Lesley. 

The  Law  of  Partnership.     By  J.  G.  Rosengarten.  * 

Methods  of  Valuation  of  Real  Estate  for  Taxation.     By  Thomas  Cochran. 

The  Merits  of  Cremation.     By  Persifor  Frazer,  Jr. 

Outlines  of  Penology.     By  Joseph  R.  Chandler. 
187s-     Brain  Disease  and  Modern  Living.     By  Dr.  Isaac  Ray.  t 

Hygiene  of  the  Eye,  Considered  with    Reference   to   the    Children    in    our 
Schools.     By  Dr.  F.  D.  Castle. 

The  Relative  Morals  of  City  and  Country.     By  William  .S.  Pierce. 

Silk  Culture  and  Home  Industry.     By  Dr.  Samuel  Chambcrlainc. 

Mind  Reading,  etc.     By  Persifor  Frazer,  Jr. 

Legal  Status  of  Married  Women  in  Pennsylvania.     By  N.  D.  Miller. 

The  Revised  Status  of  the   United  States.     By  Lorin  Blodget. 

1876.  Training  Nurses  for  the  Sick.     By  John  H.  Packard,  M.  D. 

The    Advantages   of  the    Co-operative    Feature   of  Building   Associations. 

By  Edmund  Wrigley. 
The  Operations  of  our  Building  Associations.     By  Joseph  L  Doran. 
Wisdom  in  Charity.     By  Rev.  Charles  G.  Ames.  • 

1877.  Free  Coinage  and  a  Self  Adjusting  Ratio.     By  Thomas  Ualch. 
Building  Systems  for  Gteat  Cities.     By  Ix)rin  Blodget. 
Metric  System.     By  Persifor  Frazer,  Ir. 

1878.  Cause  and  Cure  of  Hard  Times.     My  R.  J.  Wright. 
House-Drainage  and  Sewerage.     By  (Jcorgc  E.  Waring.  Jr. 

A  Plea  for  a  State  Board  of  Health.     By  Bcnj.imiii  l.cc,  M.  D. 

The  Germ    Theory  of  Disease,  and  its  Present  Bearing  upon   Puhlit   and 

Personal  Hygiene.     By  Josejjh  G.  Richardson,  M    I>. 
i87g.     Delusive  Methods  of  Municipal  Financiering.     By  William  F.  Ford,  f 
Technical  Education.     By  A.  C.  Rcmliaugh,  M.  D. 
The    English     Methods    of   Legislation     Compared    with    the     American, 

By  S.  Sterne. 


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